Burger Was Cut Out of Hamburger by Mistake
A burger is a patty in a bun. The word was created by splitting Hamburger in the wrong place, and it has been productive ever since.
A burger is a cooked patty served in a bun. The word exists because English misdivided *Hamburger*, which means of Hamburg, the German city. Treating it as *ham* plus *burger* produced a new suffix, and English promptly built cheeseburger, veggie burger and dozens more on a word fragment that never meant anything on its own.
- A patty in a bun. *A beef burger.*
- The patty alone. *Grill the burgers.*
- Burger as a suffix. *A cheeseburger.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | burger | A rare burger. |
| Plural | burgers | Two burgers. |
| Full form | hamburger | A hamburger and fries. |
| Compound | cheeseburger | A double cheeseburger. |
| Related | patty | A beef patty. |
How it is used in a sentence
- A hamburger contains no ham.It is named after Hamburg.
- She ordered a veggie burger.The suffix at work.
- The patty is the meat, the burger the whole thing.In careful usage.
Words English created by misdivision
- burger — from Hamburger
- -gate — a scandal suffix, from Watergate, a building name
- alcoholic → -holic — as in workaholic
- helicopter → -copter — the real parts are *helico-* and *-pter*
- an apron — was once *a napron*, redivided the other way
A shortening of *hamburger*, itself from *Hamburger Steak*, meaning steak in the style of Hamburg. The clipping dates from the 1930s.
Is there ham in a hamburger?
No. The name refers to the German city of Hamburg, and *ham* is a coincidence of spelling.
What is misdivision?
Splitting a word at the wrong point, creating a new element. It gave English *burger*, *-gate* and, historically, *apron* from *napron*.