linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

, clipping, also called truncation or shortening, is

word formation In linguistics, word formation is an ambiguous term that can refer to either: * the processes through which words can change (i.e. morphology), or * the creation of new lexemes in a particular language Morphological A common method of word for ...

by removing some segments of an existing word to create a synonym. Clipping differs from abbreviation, which is based on a shortening of the written, rather than the spoken, form of an existing word or phrase. Clipping is also different from

back-formation In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the ...

, which proceeds by (pseudo-)

morpheme A morpheme is the smallest meaningful constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. In English, morphemes are often but not necessarily words. Morphemes that stand alone are ...

rather than segment, and where the new word may differ in sense and

word class In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech ( abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are ass ...

from its source.

Creation

According to Hans Marchand, clippings are not coined as words belonging to the core lexicon of a language. They originate as

jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a partic ...

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-g ...

of an

in-group In sociology and social psychology, an in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. By contrast, an out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify. People may for example ide ...

, such as schools, army, police, and the medical profession. For example, , , and originated in school

; and = credit) in stock-exchange slang; and and in army slang. Clipped forms can pass into common usage when they are widely useful, becoming part of standard English, which most speakers would agree has happened with ''math''/''maths'', ''lab'', ''exam'', ''phone'' (from ''telephone''), ''fridge'' (from ''refrigerator''), and various others. When their usefulness is limited to narrower contexts, they remain outside the standard register. Many, such as ''mani'' and ''pedi'' for ''manicure'' and ''pedicure'' or ''mic''/''mike'' for ''microphone'', occupy a middle ground in which their appropriate register is a subjective judgment, but succeeding decades tend to see them become more widely used.

Types

According to , clipping mainly consists of the following types: * Final clipping or apocope * Initial clipping,

apheresis Apheresis ( ἀφαίρεσις (''aphairesis'', "a taking away")) is a medical technology in which the blood of a person is passed through an apparatus that separates out one particular constituent and returns the remainder to the circulation ...

, or procope * Medial clipping or syncope * Complex clipping, creating

clipped compound ''Clipped'' is a video featuring five tracks by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. First released in 1991, it contained three tracks from '' The Razors Edge'' and two from ''Blow Up Your Video''. In 2002 a DVD version was released which also ...

s Final and initial clipping may be combined and result in curtailed words with the middle part of the prototype retained, which usually includes the syllable with primary stress. Examples: ''fridge'' (refrigerator), ''Polly'' ( Apollinaris), ''rona'' ( coronavirus), ''shrink'' ( head-shrinker), ''tec'' (detective); also ''flu'' (which omits the stressed syllable of ''influenza''), ''jams'' (retaining the binary noun -s of pajamas/pyjamas) or ''jammies'' (adding diminutive ''-ie'').

Final

In a final clipping, the most common type in English, the beginning of the prototype is retained. The unclipped original may be either a simple or a composite. Examples include ''ad'' and ''advert'' (advertisement), ''cable'' (cablegram), ''doc'' (doctor), ''exam'' (examination), ''fax'' (facsimile), ''gas'' (gasoline), ''gym'' (gymnastics, gymnasium), ''memo'' (memorandum), ''mutt'' (muttonhead), ''pub'' (public house), ''pop'' (popular music), and ''clit'' (clitoris). Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003),

Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew ''Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew'' is a scholarly book written in the English language by linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, published in 2003 by Palgrave Macmillan. The book proposes a socio-philological framework for the an ...

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

. /

/ref> An example of apocope in Israeli Hebrew is the word ''lehit'', which derives from להתראות ''lehitraot'', meaning "see you, goodbye".

Initial

Initial (or fore) clipping retains the final part of the word. Examples: ''bot'' (robot), ''chute'' (parachute), ''roach'' (cockroach), ''gator'' (alligator), ''phone'' (telephone), ''pike'' (turnpike), ''varsity'' (university), ''net'' (Internet).

Medial

Words with the middle part of the word left out are few. They may be further subdivided into two groups: (a) words with a final-clipped stem retaining the functional morpheme: ''maths'' (mathematics), ''specs'' (spectacles); (b) contractions due to a gradual process of elision under the influence of rhythm and context. Thus, ''fancy'' (fantasy), ''ma'am'' (madam), and

fo'c'sle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...

may be regarded as accelerated forms.

Complex

Clipped forms are also used in compounds. One part of the original compound most often remains intact. Examples are: ''cablegram'' (''cable'' tele''gram''), ''op art'' (''op''tical ''art''), ''org-man'' (''org''anization ''man''), ''linocut'' (''lino''leum ''cut''). Sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped as in ''navicert'' (''navi''gation ''cert''ificate). In these cases it is difficult to know whether the resultant formation should be treated as a clipping or as a

blend A blend is a mixture of two or more different things or substances; e.g., a product of a mixer or blender. Blend Blend may also refer to: * Blend word, a word formed from parts of other words * ''Blend'' (album), a 1996 album by BoDeans * ...

, for the border between the two types is not always clear. According to Bauer (1983), the easiest way to draw the distinction is to say that those forms which retain compound stress are clipped compounds, whereas those that take simple word stress are not. By this criterion ''bodbiz, Chicom, Comsymp, Intelsat, midcult, pro''-''am, photo op, sci-fi'', and ''sitcom'' are all compounds made of clippings.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{Cite web , url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/page/270 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100510102858/http://oxforddictionaries.com/page/270 , url-status=dead , archive-date=May 10, 2010 , title=Shortenings , work=Oxford Dictionaries Online , publisher=

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, location=

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, accessdate=23 November 2010 {{cite book, first=Hans, last=Marchand, year=1969, title=The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-formation, place=München, publisher=C.H.Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung {{cite book, first=Laurie, last=Bauer, year=1983, title=English Word-Formation, place=Cambridge, publisher=Cambridge University Press {{cite book , first=Irina , last=Arnold , year=1986 , title=The English word , url=https://www.academia.edu/6536869 , location=Moscow , publisher=Высшая школа Word coinage