Etymology

hypercorrection

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Today it means: Nonstandard language use that results from the overapplication of a perceived prescriptive rule. Full definition →

English correction ← Ancient Greek ῠ̔περ- (hŭper-) ← Proto-Hellenic *hupér
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Hellenic*hupér
  4. Ancient Greekῠ̔πέρ (hŭpér)
  5. Ancient Greekῠ̔περ- (hŭper-)
  6. Englishhyper-
  7. Englishcorrection
  8. English todayhypercorrection

From hyper- + correction.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.