D defs.my
Entry 2 senses Webster, 1913

back-formation

· back·-for·ma·tion · IPA
01 n. a word invented (usually unwittingly by subtracting an affix) on the assumption that a familiar word derives from it, such as emote from emotion.
  1. 1.
    a word invented (usually unwittingly by subtracting an affix) on the assumption that a familiar word derives from it, such as emote from emotion.(Linguistics)
  2. 2.
    the process of inventing a back-formation{1}.