0 an explanation for the origin of a word that is believed to be true, but is, in fact, wrong:
Brooke's derivation of machete from Spanish "macho" (="male") is a folk etymology: the two words are unconnected.
Any number of rationales were subsequently applied to explain why the "s" -less plural might be acceptable, but these are generally folk etymologies.
He also documented controversy surrounding "okay" and the history of its folk etymologies, both of which are intertwined with the history of the word itself.
Back-formation may be similar to the reanalyses of folk etymologies when it rests on an erroneous understanding of the morphology of the longer word.
The majority can be easily classified as false etymologies, or possibly folk etymologies.
A number of folk etymologies have been proposed through the ages.
Such folk etymologies often have the effect of obscuring the true origins of a word or expression by providing a misleading and often unsubstantiated story explaining its origin.
A number of etymologies (some of them folk etymologies) have been proposed, all of which suggest that the name was derived from the languages of indigenous peoples.
In short, false analogy may occur after adaptation has taken place and be carried out mainly by monolinguals as a type of folk etymology.
