> [!Abstract] > In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation or null derivation, is a kind of word formation involving the creation of a word [...] from an existing word [...] without any change in form, which is to say, derivation using only zero. > > Conversion can be achieved through derivation with an affix, or zero derivation (no affix at all). It includes: > >- **Verbification** (or verbing), when turning a non-verb into a verb (e.g., "to impact"). "The verbs _to verbify_ and _to verb_, the first by derivation with an affix and the second by zero derivation, are themselves products of verbification". >- **Nounification**, when turning a verb into a non-verb (e.g., "let's go for a walk"). > > (Wikipedia, 2024). > [!Note] > I find conversion a wonderful endless source of neologisms in English; whereas it is practically absent in French, making the language that much more prescriptively rigid. >[!related] >- **North** (upstream): — >- **West** (similar): — >- **East** (different): — >- **South** (downstream): —