51吃瓜

Believe it or not, these are real words

What makes a word a “real word?” It’s not as cut and dry as you’d imagine. New words are made up all the time, and as long as they gain traction and have distinct meaning, we consider them “real words.”

For example, take the word听televise. It’s a newer word created from television (which had to be created first in order to televise anything).听This is called a back formation.听Like televise, many backtracked words are successful, but others (gruntled) fail to secure common-language real estate. So, to honor those words that haven’t stuck around in our day-to-day speech, we present you with our favorite unpopular back formations.

aggress

A back formation of aggression, aggress means 鈥渢o attack first鈥� or 鈥渢o begin a fight or quarrel.鈥� In existence since around the 1500s, the verb originally meant “to approach.” However,听committing an aggression, or an offensive act, requires an initial attack. Combatants knew this and took some morphological steps back to give aggress its more threatening meaning.

How to Use It Now:听Don鈥檛 you dare aggress at the bar tonight; you鈥檝e been in way too many brawls lately.

buttle

To buttle or not to buttle鈥攁 conundrum only a butler could answer. It was likely a butler who back formed the verb in the 1860s, while doing his buttling. Since most people don鈥檛 live in Downton Abbey, we鈥檒l explain that buttling is done by the chief male servant of the household, who serves food and drink, and is responsible for the silverware.

How to Use It Now: If you think I鈥檓 going to buttle your dinner to your room, you鈥檝e got another think coming. Get your own food!

couth

If uncouth means rude and obnoxious, couth is the much-needed opposite. Being couth means 鈥減ossessing good manners,鈥� and 鈥渄emonstrating sophistication and refinement.鈥� It traces to the Old English 肠奴迟丑, meaning 鈥渒nown鈥濃�攁s in, being “in the know,” or having the proper knowledge to distinguish yourself from uncouth brutes.

How to Use It Now: Watching reality TV makes us desperate to seek out the few couth people left in the world. Or, if you鈥檙e inspired to be more playful with back formation: Of all the qualities I desire in a person, couthness is the most important.

contracept

Unsurprisingly, contracept鈥攖he back formation of contraception鈥攚as birthed (pardon the pun) in the 1960s. This word, meaning 鈥渢o prevent pregnancy,鈥� arose at a pivotal time in history, when the first birth control pill was approved by the US government.

The terms using contraception and contracepting are essentially the same. Sometimes a newer backtracked word, like contracept, won鈥檛 gain popularity because an existing word or phrase with the same meaning (use contraception) is already familiar with people. Old habits die hard. But if you鈥檙e ready for contracept to be reborn 鈥�

How to Use It Now: We should respect a couple鈥檚 choice to contracept. Their bodies are their business!

helicopt

As with many less-than-successful back formations, helicopt lost air because the way less pretentious fly by helicopter already existed. (Who knew flying could be so down-to-earth?) Even so, helicopt is still considered a real, if rarely used, word.

How to Use It Now (if you dare): The Rich family will be helicopting to the Caymans for vacation. Mm, how fah-bulous.

kempt

Like couth to uncouth, kempt is 耻苍办别尘辫迟鈥�s well-groomed sibling that plays by the rules and keeps clean. In fact that鈥檚 exactly what kempt signifies: 鈥渘eatly or tidily kept.鈥�Kempt is a back formation of unkempt, but that鈥檚 only because people in the 1900s didn鈥檛 realize that kempt was actually a word tracing back over a thousand years. The Old English word cemd meant 鈥渃ombed.鈥� No matter one鈥檚 rank in society, with a comb, a person can at least make an effort to look tidy and presentable.

How to Use It Now: Walk down any haircare aisle in the grocery store, and it鈥檚 plain to see we鈥檙e kind of obsessed with being kempt. Beyond hair: Keeping up with Joneses means keeping a well-kempt yard.

lech

Let鈥檚 face it, homo sapiens have urges. Strong, sometimes sexual urges. Man鈥檚 constant struggle to master carnal cravings is a time-worn refrain of life. Mastering those urges doesn鈥檛 come easy, which is why so many terms exist for people who fail at it. Like lech, the shortened slang back formation of lecher. Apparently lecher (meaning 鈥渓ewd man鈥�), was such an applicable word it had to be condensed for faster shouting purposes.

How to Use It Now: Bella complained of undue attention, but she didn鈥檛 seem to know what she was walking into at The Lech Lounge. (Club owners, we don鈥檛 advise this name!)

nake

The verb nake (鈥渢o make/get naked鈥�) is a back formation of the adjective naked.听Nake was first used in the early 1300s, but being or becoming naked is a universal human condition, so other words like nakedize appeared later to mean the same thing.

Here we go again: human beings are sexual beings, and new words like nake and nakedize were back formed, possibly to describe processes related to sexy times. But, to be perfectly honest, we can’t really know what people were thinking back then.

How to Use It Now: Naking isn鈥檛 just for sex, of course. Everybody nakes to shower, and sometimes (unnervingly) at the doctor鈥檚 office.

sipid

Sipid is a back formation of insipid, first recorded in the 1600s. But it鈥檚 not technically the opposite of insipid as we understand it today (insipid means 鈥渓acking stimulating qualities鈥�).

Like kempt and unkempt, sipid is way older than people may have realized when they back formed it in the 1600s. The word traces to the Latin word sapid, meaning 鈥渇lavorful鈥� or 鈥渉aving a pleasing taste.鈥� That鈥檚 exactly what sipid means today, even though it鈥檚 not a frequently heard word.

How to Use It Now: Grandma鈥檚 bread pudding is so sipid, but adding chocolate chips would take it over the top!