folk etymology

Meaning

Noun

• A misunderstanding of the etymology of a word based on an inexpert analysis; an etymology that incorrectly explains the origin of a word based on the inadequate judgement of a common speaker of the language instead of etymological expertise.
• A modification of a word or its spelling resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with island, belfry, and hangnail.

Origin

• English from the 1880s (Abram Smythe Palmer, 1882), a (1820s, in 1821 as Volks-Etymologie in J. A. Schmeller's Die Mundarten Bayerns grammatisch dargestellt).