As a shortened form of the word application, app represents a contemporary example of a process linguists refer to as clipping. Clipping, also known as truncation or simply shortening, occurs when a word is reduced to one of its component parts. Familiar examples include the use of ad in place of advertisement, lab rather than laboratory, or exam instead of examination. Clipping can occur in various ways, the most common of which is the removal of the end of a word as in app, ad, exam etc. Other variations include the removal of the beginning of the word (e.g. plane from aeroplane), and removal of both the beginning and end of the word to leave the middle part (e.g. flu from influenza). Another example of clipping which has emerged in recent years is use of the word blog instead of weblog. As blog and the other examples illustrate, clipped forms are easier to pronounce and spell and so often become more popular than their longer counterparts, frequently overtaking them in everyday usage.