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What is clipping?
In English, clipping refers to shortening or truncating words without changing their meaning. This reductive process is often used to simplify language, which reduces the effort involved in speech and writing.
Depending on the part of a word that undergoes structural changes, clipping can take on various forms: back-clipping (temperature — temp, rhinoceros; gym — gymnasium); fore-clipping (helicopter — copter; telephone — phone; plane — airplane); middle clipping (influenza — flu, refrigerator); and complex clipping (paratrooper — parachute + trooper).
Clipping and examples
Some linguists argue that clipping is not a word-formation device but is a common practice in English. Tournier [1985: 307] suggests that it is not a matter of morphological constraints but rather of phonological ones.
Clipped words are easier to say and spell than long versions, making them more convenient for conversation clipping path service. This leads to more efficient communication and quick responses.
They also get increasingly into common usage, so they are reflected in standard English. This is the case with exams, math/maths, lab, phone (from telephone), fridge, and many more.
However, they can only be defined as genuinely lexical items if they have gained widespread usefulness. This usually happens when they are found in contexts that are not jargon or slang. They are then entered in dictionaries like any other “genuine” lexical item and can accept the ordinary verbal inflections typical of their word class.