back-formation

n. A new word created by improper analogy with the grammatical structure of other words. For example, burgle was created by misinterpreting the -ar in burglar as "one who."

Fitzpatrices

n. (thanks, Jamison)

  1. More than one Fitzpatrick.

antergy

n. (from analogy with common synergy; from Oligopoly Watch via Terry Frazier)

  1. The separation of a synergistic composite.

The Time-Warner proxy rebels led by Carl Icahn have announced they want the company split even further, into four new firms, namely Time-Warner Cable, motion pictures and TV networks, magazine publishing, and AOL. As with Viacom, the idea is to “release” a lot of pent-up value, the very opposite of synergy, namely antergy. —Oligopoly Watch

historicity

n.

  1. The quality of having been proximate to a historically significant event or person.

All these artifacts share the quality that Philip K. Dick, in his 1962 novel “The Man in the High Castle,” calls historicity, which is “when a thing has history in it.” In the book, a dealer in antiquities holds up two identical Zippo lighters, one of which supposedly belonged to Franklin D. Roosevelt, and says: “One has historicity, a hell of a lot of it. As much as any object has ever had. And one has nothing. Can you feel it? … You can’t. You can’t tell which is which. There’s no ‘mystical plasmic presence,’ no ‘aura’ around it.”

Back in the real world, in 1996, Sotheby’s sold a humidor that had belonged to John F. Kennedy for $574,500. It had historicity. —James Gleick, “Keeping It Real,” New York Times Magazine

lickability

n. (from Steve Jobs’ description of the OS X Aqua interface in his MacWorld Expo 2000 keynote)

  1. Sexiness, as of a design.

poign

v. (from analogy with -ant words like servant, pleasant)

  1. To be poignant.

portmanteur

n. (from portmanteau and -eur from analogy with, e.g., saboteur)

  1. One who creates portmanteaus.

saften

v.

  1. To make safe; secure.

surreptician

n.

  1. A skillful user of secrecy.