Rebracketing

Rebracketing is when we change how we divide a word into smaller parts to make it easier to say or understand. This happens when we hear a word that we don't know yet and need to figure out how it's pronounced. For example, the word "hamburger" used to be "ham-bur-ger", three separate words. But over time, people started saying it together as "hamburger". Another example is the word "nickname". It was originally "an ekename", which meant "a name given to you" in old English. But people started saying "a nickname" instead because it's easier to say. Rebracketing can also happen with phrases, like "an apron" used to be "a napron". So, rebracketing is when we change how we divide a word or phrase to make it easier to say and understand.