popular etymology
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of popular etymology
First recorded in 1875–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It hurts me to pour icy water upon that straw-grasping desperation that is popular etymology - ie the jolly tales that would seem so perfect when tracing a word's background.
From BBC • Jun. 23, 2014
The popular etymology is valuable as confirming the proposition to place Belili in the pantheon of the lower world.
From The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Jastrow, Morris
Beyond Tomi, where a popular etymology fixed the ‘cutting up’ of Apsyrtos, we need not follow the fortunes of Jason and Medea.
From Custom and Myth by Lang, Andrew
But the descriptions in the Proclamation above quoted, and the fact that Lauder sometimes calls them 'legged,' seem to show that the popular etymology in Scotland was the man's leg on the coin.
From Publications of the Scottish History Society, Volume 36 Journals of Sir John Lauder Lord Fountainhall with His Observations on Public Affairs and Other Memoranda 1665-1676 by Fountainhall, John Lauder, Lord
The old interpretation “save, now!” which may be a popular etymology, is based on Ps. cxviii.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
