reanalyze

• reanalyse

re- +‎ analyze

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 and Jeff Connor-Linton, “Language change”, in Ralph Fasold and 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.'

• reanalyzable

• reanalysis