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I am looking for a word that denotes a word composed of at least two parts, at least one of which is from a different language than the other(s); a word with mixed etymology.
An example is antimatter where we have the Greek prefix for not, anti-, with the Latin word for substance, māteria.
If pressed, I might suggest "bastard word" for these specimen, but it does not sound quite right. Other examples of such words are also much appreciated!
Alternatively, a loanblend:
a word some of whose constituents are native and others of foreign origin—called also hybrid
Strangely, although Merriam-Webster's definition of loanblend does indeed refer to hybrid, none of the senses that it lists for hybrid compare. Also strangely, while I found this in Merriam-Webster, I did not find it in Oxford or some other main dictionaries. (But I was trying to locate something that wasn't just in Wikipedia . . .)
According to Wikipedia, one term for this is a hybrid word. The concept is briefly discussed here and here. Ask Metafilter has a more specific question with some other possibilities.
hypervisor as I was waiting for your answer, but I would never have thought of some of the others :).
Jun 3, 2018 at 1:43
@Chemomechanics, from (medieval) Latin alchimia and Greek mēhkhanikos ;)
Jun 3, 2018 at 1:46
"Macaronic", of mixed foreign and native etymology. See the Merriam Webster Dictionary or the American Herritage Dictionary.
