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
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 New Edition by Lang, Andrew
From there it seems to have passed into Germany where potatoes were not cultivated extensively till the eighteenth century, and "tartufel" has in later times through some popular etymology been metamorphosed into "Kartoffel".
From Darwin and Modern Science by Seward, A. C. (Albert Charles)
The chronicler gives a piece of popular etymology, in deriving the name, 'the valley of blessing,' from that morning's worship.
From Expositions of Holy Scripture Second Kings Chapters VIII to End and Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Esther, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes by Maclaren, Alexander
As we know, old-time popular etymology makes Prometheus the fore-thinker and brother of Epimetheus the after-thinker.
From The Religions of Japan From the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by Griffis, William Elliot
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.
