reanalyze

English

Alternative forms

• reanalyse

Etymology

re- +‎ analyze

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹiːˈæn.ə.laɪz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹiˈæn.ə.laɪz/, [ɹiˈɛən.ə.laɪz], [ɹiˈɛːn.ə.laɪz]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɹiːˈæn.ə.lɑɪz/, /ɹiːˈæn.lɑɪz/
• Hyphenation: re‧an‧a‧lyze

Verb

reanalyze (third-person singular simple present reanalyzes, present participle reanalyzing, simple past and past participle reanalyzed)

1. (American spelling) To analyze again.
2. (linguistics) To analyze a lexeme with a different structure from its original, often by misunderstanding.

   The word hamburger, which is originally Hamburg + -er, was reanalyzed as ham + -burger, which produced words like cheeseburger.

   • 2006, Shaligram Shukla, Jeff Connor-Linton, “Language change”, in Ralph Fasold, Jeff Connor-Linton, editors, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 296:

     Thus hamburger (whose true etymology is 'city of Hamburg' + er 'someone from') has been reanalyzed as ham + burger 'burger made with ham.'

Derived terms

• reanalyzable

Related terms

• reanalysis