royal we

en-noun

royal we (plural royal we's or (rare) royal wes)

royal we's (plural)
royal wes (plural rare)

Queen Victoria is the monarch most commonly associated with the use of the royal we, as in "We are not amused."

The string of royal we’s in lines 19–27 conflates his personal responsibility with those of the civic institution and the city fathers, and the two analogies he appeals to along the way have self-exculpatory force.

1997, Harry Berger, Jr., “What Does the Duke Know and When Does He Know It? Carrying the Torch in Measure for Measure”, in Peter Erickson, editor, Making Trifles of Terrors: Redistributing Complicities in Shakespeare, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 347:

I know there are certain conventions of style to be observed when one writes for a professional journal. I’s indicative of real people must be suppressed, even at the cost of substituting royal we’s.

1999, Peter Gould, “[Thinking about Teaching] What Is Worth Teaching in Geography?”, in Becoming a Geographer, Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 238:

It may not sound very revolutionary to the modern ear—with all those royal wes and the orotund periods of Ciceronian dimensions which, with their apparently endless sub-clauses building slowly to a climax as they do, would probably read and sound better in Latin.

2000, Edward Stourton, Absolute Truth: The Struggle for Meaning in Today’s Catholic Church, New York, N.Y.: TV Books, →ISBN, page 31:

“So it wasn’t a royal we,” said Jane, turning around to face former Evanston police detective Bruce Oh and his wife, Claire. / Bruce Oh raised an eyebrow slightly, which for him was a thoroughly out-of-character display of expression. Jane did not know, however, whether he was surprised to see her or had no idea what she meant by the reference to the royal we. / “When we spoke on the phone,” said Jane,” you said when we return from California, but I didn’t know you were in California, so I thought you were just—”

2006, Sharon Fiffer, Hollywood Stuff, New York, N.Y.: Minotaur, St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN:

“We want you to apply to Stanford, UCSF, University of Chicago, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dana-Farber, Mass General, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, and the National Cancer Institute.” We is Herr Doktor Ultmann, a royal we. “You will get a letter of recommendation from us. Every time you see a place, you will rank every one of them until that point. Then you will call and tell us what your choice is.”

2011, Otis Webb Brawley with Paul Goldberg, How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, published 2012, →ISBN, page 145:

The narrator remarks, “[W]e know that Nestor shouldn’t drink that drink (Alice! Dorothy!) but the anger blooming in his chest will cause him to see one of the men and think he is a good-looking man. (We hate to admit that the men are good-looking.) We know, even through their clothes, that they are slick as seals and hard” (174). The content of the two parentheticals signal that this is a royal we speaking; its royal we tone is a blend of a camp sensibility with a genuine pathos for poor Nestor. It is a mock royal we that goes over the top with its tone to make a serious point.

2016, Ralph E. Rodriguez, “I Digress: Reading Chicano Narrative and Manuel Muñoz’s “Monkey, Sí””, in William Orchard, Yolanda Padilla, editors, Bridges, Borders, and Breaks: History, Narrative, and Nation in Twenty-First-Century Chicana/o Literary Criticism, Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, →ISBN:

“If I had the energy, I’d object to your high-handed bossiness.” / “Mmm, I’ll give you a rain check, how’s that? Now, we need to get you out of these clothes.” / “I’ve got a headache, Chance. I think I can still manage to undress on my own.” / He grinned. “That was one of those royal we’s.[…]”

2018, Mindy Neff, The Doctor’s Instant Family, →ISBN:

He let his hand drop and, without preamble, said, “I am old, cousin. I would see this war end before my reign does.” The royal we was gone again, but he amended the breach as he continued. “You are thinking that we do not look old, but you are palatine.[…]”

2020, Christopher Ruocchio, Demon in White (The Sun Eater; 3), New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, →ISBN, page 18:

Regarding we, scholars have developed taxonomies clarifying potential referents: a common distinction is between inclusive we, referencing both speaker and hearer (we instead of you and I), exclusive we, referencing speaker and a group not including the hearer (we meaning we without you), and a royal we referencing only the speaker, as traditionally used by a sovereign (Fontaine 2006; Íñigo-Mora 2004).

2021, Eean Grimshaw, Menno H. Reijven, ““We Have a Big Crowd”: The Different Referents of the First-Person Plural in U.S. Presidential Candidates’ Talk on Entertainment-Political Interviews”, in Monika Kirner-Ludwig, editor, Fresh Perspectives on Major Issues in Pragmatics, New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, →ISBN:

For example, in lines 021–022, Mr. Bader says we in “excuse me skateboard people, we are recognizing the order of events.” It is not immediately clear whom we refers to in this case. There are at least four possibilities: an inclusive we, an exclusive we, a “royal we” and a “patronizing we.” We might refer inclusively to Mr. Bader and all of the students in the room. We might refer exclusively to Mr. Bader and only some of the students in the room (for example, perhaps not the “skateboard people”). In its “royal” form, we might refer to Mr. Bader alone, speaking about himself in the plural because of his social status.

2021, Stanton Wortham, Angela Reyes, “Central tools and techniques”, in Discourse Analysis Beyond the Speech Event, 2nd edition, Abingdon, Oxon, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 50:

She’s still droning on about the conference using the royal we because she likes to pretend that her bosses care enough to involve her in their decisions. / ‘There’s a large new prospective client going. We need you to secure them.’

2021, Kate G. Smith, You’ve Got Mail, London: Orion Books, →ISBN:

The first-person plural pronoun we as traditionally used by a sovereign in formal speech to refer to themselves in their role as the monarch.


augment

en-verb

augment (third-person singular simple present augments, present participle augmenting, simple past and past participle augmented)

augments (present singular third-person)
augmenting (participle present)
augmented (participle past)
augmented (past)

From Middle English augmenten, from Middle French augmenter, from Old French augmenter, from Late Latin augmentare (“to increase”), from Latin augmentum (“an increase, growth”), from augere (“to increase”).

(grammar, transitive) To add an augment to.


augment

The augment is found in Greek, Indo-Iranian, Armenian and Phrygian.

(Indo-European languages) In some languages, a prefix *é- (अ- (a-) in Sanskrit, ἐ- (e-) in Greek) indicating a past tense of a verb.

նախահավելված

grammar: prefix indicating past tense of verb

Fundamentally the augment characterizes a verbal action viewed from a non-contemporary standpoint, either the moment of speaking (or writing) or a further verbal action.

1987, Kim McCone, chapter IX, in The early Irish verb, 2nd edition, Maynooth: An Sagart, published 1997, →ISBN, section 3.1, page 93:

(Celtic languages) Especially Old Irish, a preverb, usually ro-, used to give a verb a resultative or potential meaning.

(Bantu languages) In some languages, an additional vowel prepended to the noun prefix.


blade

From Middle English blade, blad, from Old English blæd (“leaf”), from Proto-West Germanic *blad, from Proto-Germanic *bladą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥h₃-o-to-m, from *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”).
See also West Frisian bled, Dutch blad, German Blatt, Danish blad, Irish bláth (“flower”), Welsh blodyn (“flower”), Tocharian A pält, Tocharian B pilta (“leaf”), Albanian fletë (“leaf”). Similar usage in German Sägeblatt (“saw blade”, literally “saw leaf”). Doublet of blat. More at blow.

teh

typically sharp-edged working end of a knife or other cutting tool

(chiefly phonetics, phonology) The part of the tongue just behind the tip, used to make laminal consonants.


base

en-noun

base (countable and uncountable, plural bases)

acid

antonym(s) of “chemical compound that will neutralize an alkali”

From Middle English base, bas, baas, from Old French base, from Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis). Doublet of basis and bass.

أَسَاس

something from which other things extend

(linguistics) A morpheme (or morphemes) that serves as a basic foundation on which affixes can be attached.

kanta

linguistics: morpheme that serves as foundation on which affixes can be attached


liquid

liquid (countable and uncountable, plural liquids)

From Middle English liquide, from Old French liquide, from Latin liquidus (“fluid, liquid, moist”), from liqueō (“to be liquid, be fluid”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wleykʷ- (“to flow, run”). Doublet of liquidus. As a term for a consonant, it comes from Latin liquida (cōnsōnāns), a calque of Ancient Greek ὑγρὸν (σύμφωνον) (hugròn (súmphōnon), “liquid consonant”).

der

ὑγρὸν (σύμφωνον)

Many female forenames are regarded as euphonyms. What is and is not euphonious is necessarily subjective, but it could be suggested that names containing labials (b, m), sibilants (s, sh) and liquids (l, r) are more likely to be euphonyms than those that do not.

1996, Adrian Room, An Alphabetical Guide to the Language of Name Studies, page 41:

[…]-able does not attach to verbs ending in a postconsonantal liquid […]

1999, Ingo Plag, Morphological Productivity, page 86:

(phonetics) Any of a class of consonant sounds that includes l and r.


liquid

en-adj

liquid (comparative more liquid, superlative most liquid)

more liquid (comparative)
most liquid (superlative)

illiquid

antonym(s) of “having sufficient activity”

der

ὑγρὸν (σύμφωνον)

/l/ and /r/ are liquid consonants.

(phonology) Belonging to a class of consonants comprised of the laterals and the rhotics, which in many languages behave similarly.


round

en-adj

round (comparative rounder or more round, superlative roundest or most round)

rounder (comparative)
more round (comparative)
roundest (superlative)
most round (superlative)

From Middle English round, rounde, from Old Northern French roünt, rund, Old French ront, runt, reont ( > French rond), from both Late Latin retundus and the original Latin rotundus. The noun developed partly from the adjective and partly from the corresponding French noun rond. Doublet of rotund.

kerekített

Formal, used when number was derived from a more accurate value on some purpose. Contrary, "kerek" refers to any round(ed) number. Eg. "1000 is a round number." vs. "For cash payments in Hungary, final sum is rounded to the nearest 5-HUF value since 2008, in which year coins with smaller denominations (1HUF, 2HUF) have been withdrawn from circulation."

pyöreä

pronounced with the mouth in the shape of an "O"

"Supposing somebody sees you, with all those flowers too? Supposing somebody writes him a letter? Ooooh!" (a pure round open Tamil O.)

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 421:

(phonetics) Pronounced with the lips drawn together; rounded.


narrow

narrow (comparative narrower, superlative narrowest)

narrower (comparative)
narrowest (superlative)

From Middle English narow, narowe, narewe, narwe, naru, from Old English nearu (“narrow, strait, confined, constricted, not spacious, limited, petty; limited, poor, restricted; oppressive, causing anxiety (of that which restricts free action of body or mind), causing or accompanied by difficulty, hardship, oppressive; oppressed, not having free action; strict, severe”), from Proto-West Germanic *naru, from Proto-Germanic *narwaz (“constricted, narrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ner- (“to turn, bend, twist, constrict”). Cognate with Scots naro, narow, narrow (“narrow”), North Frisian naar, noar, noor (“narrow”), Saterland Frisian noar (“bleak, dismal, meager, ghastly, unwell”), Saterland Frisian Naarwe (“scar”), West Frisian near (“narrow”), Dutch naar (“dismal, bleak, ill, sick”), Low German naar (“dismal, ghastly”), German Nehrung (“spit, narrow peninsula”), Norwegian norve (“a clip, staple”), Icelandic narrow- (“njörva-”, in compounds).

cog

(phonetics) Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; distinguished from wide.

suppea

phonetics: formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate


flat

en-adj

flat (comparative flatter, superlative flattest)

flatter (comparative)
flattest (superlative)

bumpy

antonym(s) of “having no variations in altitude”

→ Portuguese: flat

From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr (compare Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रथस् (prathas, “extension”). Doublet of plat and pleyt.
The noun is from Middle English flat (“level piece of ground, flat edge of a weapon”), from the adjective.
The algebraic sense was coined by Serre in a 1956 paper, originally as French plat.

inh

(phonetics, dated, of a consonant) Sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant.

Many flat adverbs, as in 'run fast', 'buy cheap', etc. are from Old English.

(grammar) Not having an inflectional ending or sign, such as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix; or an infinitive without the sign "to".


imp.

en-adj

imp. (comparative more imp., superlative most imp.)

more imp. (comparative)
most imp. (superlative)

notā, sg. imp. form of notō, “I mark”

(not comparable, grammar) Abbreviation of imperative.

sate, obs. imp. form of to sit

(not comparable, grammar) Abbreviation of imperfect.

rain: in imp. constr., “It’s raining.”

(not comparable, grammar) Abbreviation of impersonal.


feminine

feminine (comparative more feminine, superlative most feminine)

more feminine (comparative)
most feminine (superlative)

butch

having qualities stereotypical of the female gender

From Middle English feminine, femynyne, femynyn, from Old French feminin, feminine, from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-eh₂ (“(the one) nursing, breastfeeding”). Related to fetus, feminism, filial, fellatio.

femëror

of the feminine grammatical gender distinction

(grammar) Of, pertaining or belonging to the female grammatical gender, in languages that have gender distinctions.

(of a noun) Being of the feminine class or grammatical gender, and inflected in that manner.

(of another part of speech) Being inflected in agreement with a feminine noun.

Coordinate term: masculine

(grammar, Mongolic languages, of any word) Having the vowel harmony of a front vowel.

Feminine caesura, feminine catalexis, feminine ending.

(prosody) Following or ending on an unstressed syllable.


feminine

These changes being understood, it is easy to see how inaccurate it is to talk of she being the feminine, and they being the plural, of he. The different words belong to different systems, and are no more the masculines and feminines of one another, than (to use a well-known illustration) puss is the vocative case of cat.

1860, Robert Gordon Latham FRS, An Elementary English Grammar: For the Use of Schools, →OCLC, page 82:

(grammar) A word of the feminine gender.


nanori

From Japanese 名乗り (nanori, literally “name + riding”).

bor

(linguistics) A Japanese reading of a kanji character that is used for names of people or places, but that is otherwise a non-standard reading for that character.


verbal noun

(grammar) A noun that is morphologically related to a verb and similar to it in meaning; in English, it contrasts with the gerund and the deverbal noun.

مَصْدَر

grammar: noun that is morphologically related to a verb and has similar meaning


continuous

From Latin continuus, from contineō (“hold together”). Displaced native Old English singal.

continuous erythropoietin receptor activator

(grammar) Expressing an ongoing action or state.


impersonal

en-adj

impersonal (comparative more impersonal, superlative most impersonal)

more impersonal (comparative)
most impersonal (superlative)

Northern England English, Syllabic post-schwa consonants

From French impersonnel, from Latin impersōnālis, from im- (“not”) + persōnālis (“personal”), equivalent to im- + personal.

The verb “rain” is impersonal in sentences like “It’s raining.”

(grammar, of a verb or other word) Not having a subject, or having a third person pronoun without an antecedent.


impersonal

(grammar) An impersonal word or construct.


back

back (not generally comparable, comparative more back, superlative most back)

more back (comparative)
most back (superlative)

front

antonym(s) of “near the rear, phonetics”

From Middle English bak, from Old English bæc, from Proto-West Germanic *bak, from Proto-Germanic *baką, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“to bend”). The adverb represents an aphetic form of aback.
Compare Middle Low German bak (“back”), from Old Saxon bak, and West Frisian bekling (“chair back”), Old High German bah, Swedish and Norwegian bak. Cognate with German Bache (“sow [adult female hog]”).

The vowel of lot has a back vowel in most dialects of England.

(comparable, phonetics) Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the back of the mouth, near the soft palate (most often describing a vowel).

zadní

phonetics: produced in the back of the mouth


subjective

subjective (comparative more subjective, superlative most subjective)

more subjective (comparative)
most subjective (superlative)

The general finite stem is the verbal stem which serves as the basis of inflection in the indicative present and past in the subjective conjugation and the objective conjugation with the singular and dual object.

2014, Irina Nikolaeva, A Grammar of Tundra Nenets, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, →ISBN:

(linguistics, grammar) Describing conjugation of a verb that indicates only the subject (agent), not indicating the object (patient) of the action. (In linguistic descriptions of Tundra Nenets, among others.)


handle

desctree

→ Japanese: ハンドル (handoru)
→ Hokkien: 捍多路 (hăn-tó͘-luh)
→ Sakizaya: handulu

From Middle English handel, handle, from Old English handle (“a handle”), from handlian (“to handle, feel, deal with, discuss”). See verb below. Cognate with Danish handel (“a handle”).

The successful businessman was knighted and acquired a handle to his name.

(slang) A title attached to one's name, such as Doctor or Colonel.


low

en-adj

low (comparative lower, superlative lowest)

lower (comparative)
lowest (superlative)

high

antonym(s) of “in a position comparatively close to the ground”

From Middle English lowe, lohe, lāh, from Old Norse lágr (“low”), from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz (“lying, flat, situated near the ground, low”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).
Cognate with Scots laich (“low”), Low German leeg (“low, feeble, bad”), Danish lav (“low”), Icelandic lágur (“low”), West Frisian leech (“low”), North Frisian leeg, liig (“low”), Dutch laag (“low”), obsolete German läg (“low”). More at lie.

слаб

lacking health or vitality; feeble; weak

low-toned

of a loudness, suggesting a lower amplitude

could eat the arse out of a low flying duck

could eat the crotch out of a low flying duck

could eat the crutch from a low flying duck

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails

(phonetics) Made with a relatively large opening between the tongue and the palate; made with (part of) the tongue positioned low in the mouth, relative to the palate.

ala-

phonetics: articulated with a low position of part of the tongue in relation to the palate


wedge

en-noun

wedge (countable and uncountable, plural wedges)

From Middle English wegge (“wedge”), from Old English weċġ (“wedge”), from Proto-West Germanic *wagi, from Proto-Germanic *wagjaz.

Turned V is referred to as “Wedge” by some phoneticians, but this seems inadvisable to us, because the haček accent (ˇ) is also called that in names like Wedge C for (č).

1996, Geoffrey Keith Pullum, William A. Ladusaw, Phonetic Symbol Guide, 2nd edition, page 19:

Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.

(phonetics) The IPA character ʌ, which denotes an open-mid back unrounded vowel.


long

From Middle English long, lang, from Old English long, lang (“long, tall, lasting”), from Proto-West Germanic *lang, from Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”).
Cognate with Scots lang (“long”), North Frisian long, lung (“long”), Saterland Frisian loang (“long”), Norwegian, West Frisian, Dutch and German lang (“long”), Swedish lång (“long”), Icelandic langur (“long”), Portuguese longo (“long”), Spanish luengo (“long”), French long, Latin longus (“long”), Russian дли́нный (dlínnyj), до́лго (dólgo), Sanskrit दीर्घ (dīrgha, “long”).
The word exceptionally retains the Old English darkening of -a- before nasals. Though there are other such examples in Middle and Modern English (e.g. bond, song, throng, wrong), the o-form may have been reinforced by Old French long, from Latin longus, from the same Indo-European word. Doublet of lungo and lunge.

In French most vowels are half-long, and are only occasionally lengthened or shortened into full longs and shorts.

1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics, volume 2, page 60:


simple past

(grammar) A tense used to describe something that happened in the past, formed by the inflection of a single word, without any auxiliary verb such as be or have.

passé simple

these terms have slightly different meanings in French, they are not synonyms


prefix

Borrowed from Late Latin praefīxum, from Latin praefīxus, past participle of praefīgō (“I (fix, fasten, set up) in front”, “I fix on the (end, extremity)”) (from prae- (“before”) + fīgō (“I fix”, “I fasten”, “I affix”)), equivalent to pre- + -fix. Doublet of the archaic synonym prefixum.

(grammar, linguistic morphology) A morpheme added to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning, for example as, pre- in prefix, con- in conjure, re- in reheat, etc.


wide

en-adj

wide (comparative wider or more wide, superlative widest or most wide)

wider (comparative)
more wide (comparative)
widest (superlative)
most wide (superlative)

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English wid, wyd, from Old English wīd (“wide, vast, broad, long; distant, far”), from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“to separate, divide”), a dissimilated univerbation from *dwi- (“apart, asunder, in two”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to do, put, place”).
Cognate with Scots wyd, wid (“of great extent; vast”), West Frisian wiid (“broad; wide”), Dutch wijd (“wide; large; broad”), German weit (“far; wide; broad”), Danish vid (“wide”), Swedish vid (“wide”), Icelandic víður (“wide”), Latin dīvidō (“separate, sunder”), Latin vītō (“avoid, shun”). Related to widow.

compound

(phonetics, dated) Made, as a vowel, with a less tense, and more open and relaxed, condition of the organs in the mouth.


governor

Bahamian Creole: governor

Belizean Creole: govna

Gullah: gobna

Krio: governor

Pichinglis: gɔvna, gɔbna

Pijin: gavna

Tobagonian Creole English: governor

Tok Pisin: gavana

→ Hausa: gwamna

→ Irish: gobharnóir

→ Maori: kāwana

→ Samoan: kavana

→ Swahili: gavana

→ Malay: gabenor

/ˈɡʌvənə(ɹ)/

From Middle English governour, from Old French gouvreneur, from Latin gubernator, from Ancient Greek κυβερνήτης (kubernḗtēs, “steersman, pilot, guide”), from κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer, to drive, to guide, to act as a pilot”), of disputed origin. By surface analysis, govern + -or. Doublet of gubernator. Doublet of cybernetics and Kubernetes.

viceroy

of large divisions of a kingdom or empire

(grammar) A constituent of a phrase that governs another.


flash

en-noun

flash (countable and uncountable, plural flashes)

aeon

antonym(s) of “very short amount of time”

→ Catalan: flaix

→ Polish: flesz

In some senses, from Middle English flasshen, a variant of flasken, flaskien (“to sprinkle, splash”), which was likely of imitative origin; in other senses probably of North Germanic origin akin to Swedish dialectal flasa (“to burn brightly, blaze”), related to flare. Compare also Icelandic flasa (“to rush, go hastily”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

(linguistics) A language, created by a minority to maintain cultural identity, that cannot be understood by the ruling class.

alakieli

linguistics: language created by a repressed minority


objective

en-adj

objective (comparative more objective, superlative most objective)

more objective (comparative)
most objective (superlative)

Borrowed from French objectif, from Latin objectivus.

Let us now glance at the demonstrative and relative pronouns. Of the former there are but two in English, this and that, with their plural forms, these and those. To them, American adds a third, them, which is also the personal pronoun of the third person, objective case.

1921 [1919], H. L. Mencken, chapter 41, in The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(grammar) Of, or relating to a noun or pronoun used as the object of a verb.

(linguistics, grammar) Of, or relating to verbal conjugation that indicates the object (patient) of an action. (In linguistic descriptions of Tundra Nenets, among others.)


objective

(grammar) a noun or pronoun in the objective case.


nominatival

(grammar) Of or pertaining to the nominative case; nominative


genitival

genitival (comparative more genitival, superlative most genitival)

more genitival (comparative)
most genitival (superlative)

genitival adverb

(grammar) Having genitive form; pertaining to, expressing, or derived from, the genitive case.


locative

a locative adjective

the locative case of a noun

(grammar) Indicating place, or the place where, or wherein.


locative

Brian: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the… accusative! Accusative! Ah! Domum, sir! Ad domum! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
Centurion: Except that domus takes the…?
Brian: The locative, sir!
Centurion: Which is…?!


high

high (comparative higher, superlative highest)

higher (comparative)
highest (superlative)

Sranan Tongo: hei

From Middle English high, heigh, heih, from Old English hēah (“high, tall, lofty, high-class, exalted, sublime, illustrious, important, proud, haughty, deep, right”), from Proto-West Germanic *hauh (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz (“high”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewk- (“to elevate, height”). Cognate with Scots heich (“high”), Saterland Frisian hooch (“high”), West Frisian heech (“high”), Dutch hoog (“high”), Low German hoog (“high”), German hoch (“high”), Swedish hög (“high”), Norwegian høy (“high”), Icelandic hár (“high”), Lithuanian kaukas (“bump, boil, sore”).

der

(phonetics) Made with some part of the tongue positioned high in the mouth, relatively close to the palate.


count

From Middle English counten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman conter, from Old French conter (“add up; tell a story”), from Latin computō (“I compute”). In this sense, displaced native Old English tellan, whence Modern English tell. Doublet of compute.

For example, the term abuse would require at least one definition for the uncount usage ‘invective, insulting language’, and another for the count usage ‘an item of invective, an insult’.

2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 118:


Hindi

From Classical Persian هِنْدِی (hindī), from هِنْد (hind, “India”), from Sanskrit सिन्धु (sindhu) + Persian adjectival suffix ـِی (-ī). Not from Iranian Persian هند (hend).

Hindi
Hindi (disambiguation)
Hindi language (Hindi belt)
Hindi languages

(linguistics) All the lects in the Hindi Belt, which also includes lects that do not belong to the Central Zone of Indo-Aryan languages.


m

Abbreviations.
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of am.
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of him.
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of my and mine.
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of many.
# (stenoscript) the prefix mis-.
# (stenoscript) the prefix im-.

ng

and <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">mine</i>.


dead

en-adj

dead (not generally comparable, comparative deader, superlative deadest)

deader (comparative)
deadest (superlative)

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish, Norwegian død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud.

(to have) gone to one's final resting place

[…] syllable is dead, the tone will depend on whether the vowel is short or long.

2011, Russ Crowley, Learning Thai, Your Great Adventure, page 28:

(linguistics) Of a syllable in languages such as Thai and Burmese: ending abruptly.


n

Alternative form: n.


n

Alternative form: n.

(grammar) Abbreviation of neuter (gender).


smooth

smooth (comparative smoother, superlative smoothest)

smoother (comparative)
smoothest (superlative)

From Middle English smothe, smethe, from Old English smēþe, smōþ, both from Proto-West Germanic *smanþī, of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots smuith (“smooth”), Low German smood and smödig (“smooth, malleable, ductile”), Dutch smeuïg (“smooth”) (from earlier smeudig).

a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor

the course of true love never did run smooth

Οὐ becomes οὐκ before a smooth vowel, and οὐχ before an aspirate.

1830, Benjamin Franklin Fisk, A Grammar of the Greek Language, page 5:

(linguistics, classical studies, of a vowel) Lacking marked aspiration.

ilman henkäystä

linguistics, classical studies, of a vowel: lacking marked aspiration


prepositional

From Latin praepositiō (“a setting before, a preposition”), a calque of Ancient Greek πρόθεσις (próthesis, “a setting before, preposition (grammar)”) + -al.


sharp

en-adj

sharp (comparative sharper, superlative sharpest)

sharper (comparative)
sharpest (superlative)

bland

antonym(s) of “having an intense and acrid flavour”

From Middle English scharp, from Old English sċearp, from Proto-West Germanic *skarp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-, from *(s)ker- (“to cut”).
Cognate with West Frisian skerp, Low German scharp, Dutch scherp, German scharf, Danish skarp. Compare Irish cearb (“keen; cutting”), Latin acerbus (“tart, bitter”), Tocharian B kärpye (“rough”), Latvian skârbs (“sharp, rough”), Russian щерба (ščerba, “notch”), Polish szczerba (“gap, dent, jag, chip, nick, notch”), Albanian harb (“rudeness”). More at shear.

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

(phonetics, dated) Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone; aspirated; unvoiced.


instrumental

instrumental (comparative more instrumental, superlative most instrumental)

more instrumental (comparative)
most instrumental (superlative)

From Middle English instrumental, instrumentale, from Medieval Latin īnstrūmentālis, equivalent to instrument + -al.

the instrumental case

(grammar) Applied to a case expressing means or agency, generally corresponding to the English use of prepositions such as by, with, through, or by means of with the objective case.


invariable

The French adjective marron ‘brown’ is invariable: it does not take the usual s in the plural.

(by extension, grammar, of a word, or a grammatical class) That cannot undergo inflection, conjugation or declension.


state

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tus
Latin statuslbor.
Old French estatbor.
Middle English stat
English state
From Middle English stat (as a noun); adopted c. 1200 from both Old French estat and Latin status (“manner of standing, attitude, position, carriage, manner, dress, apparel; and other senses”), from stare (“to stand”). Doublet of estate and status. The sense of "polity" develops in the 14th century. Compare French être, Greek στέω (stéo), Italian stare, Portuguese estar, Romanian sta, and Spanish estar.

der

something is rotten in the state of Denmark

there is something rotten in the state of Denmark

[…]distinctions among states of affairs are reflected to a striking degree in distinctions among Aktionsart types. That is, situations are expressed by state verbs or predicates, events by achievement verbs or predicates, and actions by activity verbs or predicates.

1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax, page 92:

The most basic Aktionsart distinction is between states and occurrences.

2010, Nick Riemer, Introducing Semantics, page 320:

(grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that do not change over time.


stroke

The noun is derived from Middle English strok, stroke (“blow from a weapon, cut”), from Old English strāc, from Proto-West Germanic *straik, from Proto-Germanic *straikaz (“stroke”), from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike”).
Sense 3.6.2.2 (“the oblique, slash, or virgule (‘/’)”) is a contraction of oblique stroke, a variant of oblique which was originally used in telegraphy.
The verb is derived from the noun.
cognates
* German Streich (“stroke”)
* Middle Low German strēk (“stroke, trick, prank”)
* Scots strak, strake, straik (“blow, stroke”)

isku

one of a series of beats or movements against a resisting medium, by means of which movement through or upon it is accomplished

ход

single movement or thrust of a part (such as a piston) of a machine that moves back and forth; length of this movement

خَطّ

line or mark made on a surface by an implement for drawing, writing, etc.

A movement of a brush in painting, of a chisel in carving, of a pen, pencil, or such implement in drawing or writing, etc., in one direction; hence, a line or mark made on a surface by such an implement.

(linguistics, calligraphy, typography) A line making up a written character.

筆畫

line making up a written character; specifically, a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean character


live

en-adj

live (comparative more live, superlative most live)

more live (comparative)
most live (superlative)

(linguistics) Of a syllable in languages such as Thai and Burmese: resonating, not ending abruptly.


particle

From Middle French particule, and its source, Latin particula (“small part, particle”), diminutive of pars (“part, piece”).

uder

Grammatical particle
Particle (ecology)
particle

أَدَاة

word that does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech

អព្យយ

ʼappyĕəʼyĕəʼ

gravitationally interacting massive particle

super weakly interacting massive particle

In English there is no grammatical device to differentiate predicational judgments from nonpredicational descriptions. This distinction does cast a shadow on the grammatical sphere to some extent, but recognition of it must generally be made in semantic terms. It is maintained here that in Japanese, on the other hand, the distinction is grammatically realized through the use of the two particles wa and ga.

1965 June 4, Shigeyuki Kuroda, “Generative grammatical studies in the Japanese language”, in DSpace@MIT, retrieved 2014-02-24, page 38:

Traditional grammar typically recognises a number of further categories: for example, in his Reference Book of Terms in Traditional Grammar for Language Students, Simpson (1982) posits two additional word-level categories which he refers to as Particle, and Conjunction. Particles include the italicised words {...}
(a) He put his hat on
(b) If you pull too hard, the handle will come off
(c) He was leaning too far over the side, and fell out
(d) He went up to see the manager

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 133:

(linguistics) A part of speech that has no inherent lexical definition but must be associated with another word to impart meaning, often a grammatical category: for example, the English word to in a full infinitive phrase (to eat) or O in a vocative phrase (O Canada), or as a discourse marker (mmm).

322. The parts of speech which are neither declined nor conjugated, are called by the general name of particles. 323. They are adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

1844, E. A. Andrews: First Lessions in Latin; or Introduction to Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar. (6th edition, Boston), p.91 (at books.google)

The Parts of Speech are the Noun (Substantive and Adjective), the Pronoun, the Verb, and the Particles (Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction)[.]

1894 (2008), B. L. Gildersleeve & G. Lodge: Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar (reprint of the 3rd edition by Dover, 2008), p.9. (at books.google)

(linguistics) A part of speech which cannot be inflected.


short

→ Cantonese: short

→ Italian: short

→ Japanese: ショート (shōto)

→ Mandarin: 秀逗 (xiùdou)

→ Hakka: 秀逗 (sió-tò)

→ Maltese: xort

From Middle English schort, short, from Old English sċeort, sċort (“short”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurt, from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-.
Cognates
shirt, skirt, curt, Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, Dutch kort, German kurz, Old High German scurz (“short”) (whence Middle High German schurz), Old Norse skorta (“to lack”) (whence Danish skorte), Albanian shkurt (“short, brief”), Latin curtus (“shortened, incomplete”) and Proto-Slavic *kortъkъ. Doublet of curt. More at shirt.

If we compare the nearest conventional shorts and longs in English, as in ‘bit’ and ‘beat’, ‘not’ and ‘naught’, we find that the short vowels are generally wide (i, ɔ), the long narrow (i, ɔ), besides being generally diphthongic as well.

1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics, page 18:

(phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.

lyhyt äänne

phonetics: short sound, syllable, or vowel


gender

en-noun

gender (countable and uncountable, plural genders)

→ Arabic: جِنْدَر (jindar)

→ Armenian: գենդեր (gender)

desc

→ Belarusian: ге́ндар (hjéndar), ге́ндэр (hjénder)

→ Bulgarian: дже́ндър (džéndǎr)

→ Czech: gender

→ Dutch: gender

→ Esperanto: genro (semantic loan)

→ French: genre (semantic loan)

→ Georgian: გენდერი (genderi)

→ German: Gender

→ Hungarian: gender

→ Indonesian: gèndêr

→ Japanese: ジェンダー (jendā)

→ Korean: 젠더 (jendeo)

→ Polish: gender

→ Russian: ге́ндер (génder)

→ Slovak: gender

→ Ukrainian: ге́ндер (hénder), ґе́ндер (génder)

→ Yiddish: דזשענדער (dzhender)

From Middle English gendre, borrowed from Old French gendre, borrowed from Latin genere (“type, kind”). Doublet of genre and genus. The verb developed after the noun.

sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts

The pronominal declension [of English], on which we will focus most of our attention, inflects pronouns for person, number, case, gender, animacy, and reflexivity.

1990, Edwin L. Battistella, Markedness: The Evaluative Superstructure of Language, →ISBN, page 73:

In Algonquian languages, given the full morphology of a noun, one can predict whether it belongs to the animate or inanimate gender […]

1991, Greville G. Corbett, Gender, →ISBN, pages 22 and 65:

Pronouns, for instance, are structures that organise information about continuous referents. This information is typically categorised in Romani according to Person, Number, Gender, Animacy, Case, and Discreteness.

2006, Viktor Elšik, Yaron Matras, Markedness and Language Change: The Romani Sample, →ISBN, page 29:

The common gender might well reflect an IE animate gender.

2015, Anna Giacalone Ramat, Paolo Ramat, The Indo-European Languages, →ISBN, page 191:

(grammar) A division of nouns and pronouns (and sometimes of other parts of speech) into masculine or feminine, and sometimes other categories like neuter or common, and animate or inanimate.

143. […] We have now to speak of the following eight particulars relating to verbs: Gender or Sort, Person, Number, Time, Mode, Participle, Gerund, and Supine. [...]
1st.--Of the Gender.
144. Gender means the same as sort or kind. There are four principal Sorts of Verbs; namely, Active verbs, Passive verbs, Neuter verbs, and Impersonal verbs.

1835, James Paul Cobbett, A Latin Grammar for the Use of English Boys: Being an Explanation of the Rudiments of the Latin Language, London, page 111:

Many of the words quoted are purely reflexive, others passive or deponent. Such words as óttask, œðrask, dásk, iðrask, reiðask are deponent, though they originally may have been reflexive, but the active gender is here quite obsolete.

1866, Guðbrandr Vigfusson, “Some remarks upon the Use of the Reflexive Pronoun in Icelandic”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, page 87:

The general distinction is between three 'genders' out of the five genders of the Latin tradition: active gender, passive gender, neuter gender.

2007, Bernard Colombat, “Some Problems in Transferring the Latin Model to the First French Grammars: Verbal voice, impersonal verbs and the -rais form”, in Eduardo Guimarães, Diana Luz Pessoa de Barros, editors, Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 110: History of Linguistics 2002, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 6:

(grammar) Synonym of voice (“particular way of inflecting or conjugating verbs”)


localize

en-verb

localize (third-person singular simple present localizes, present participle localizing, simple past and past participle localized)

localizes (present singular third-person)
localizing (participle present)
localized (participle past)
localized (past)

From local + -ize. Compare French localiser.

the ethical dilemma faced when to localize is to self-censor

(translation studies, chiefly software, marketing) To adapt translated text to fit a local culture; to domesticate.


localization

en-noun

localization (countable and uncountable, plural localizations)

/ˌləʊkəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/

From localize + -ation; compare French localisation.

გაქართულება

specifically meaning localization to Georgian only

(translation studies, chiefly software, marketing) The act, process, or result of adapting translated text to fit a local culture; domestication.


stop

en-verb

stop (third-person singular simple present stops, present participle stopping, simple past and past participle stopped)

stops (present singular third-person)
stopping (participle present)
stopped (participle past)
stopped (past)
stop (infinitive)

continue

antonym(s) of “to cause to cease moving”

continue

antonym(s) of “to cause to come to an end”

→ Finnish: stop

→ French: stop

→ Greek: στοπ (stop)

→ Hungarian: stop

→ Irish: stop

→ Italian: stop

→ Latvian: stop

→ Ottoman Turkish: استوپ (istop)

→ Polish: stop

→ Portuguese: stop

→ Russian: стоп (stop)

→ Spanish: stop

→ Welsh: stopio

→ Tok Pisin: stap

From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (“to push; stick”), from *(s)tew- (“to bump; impact; butt; push; beat; strike; hit”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian stopje (“to stop, block”), West Frisian stopje (“to stop”), Dutch stoppen (“to stop”), Low German stoppen (“to stop”), German stopfen (“to be filling, stuff”), German stoppen (“to stop”), Danish stoppe (“to stop”), Swedish stoppa (“to stop”), Icelandic stoppa (“to stop”), Middle High German stupfen, stüpfen (“to pierce”). More at stuff, stump.
Alternative etymology derives Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn from an assumed Vulgar Latin *stūpāre, *stuppāre (“to stop up with tow”), from stūpa, stīpa, stuppa (“tow, flax, oakum”), from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē, “tow, flax, oakum”). This derivation, however, is doubtful, as the earliest instances of the Germanic verb do not carry the meaning of "stuff, stop with tow". Rather, these senses developed later in response to influence from similar sounding words in Latin and Romance.

megakadályoz

to cause to cease progressing, to prevent

if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging

th-stopping

(phonetics, transitive) To pronounce (a phoneme) as a stop.


stop

(linguistics) A consonant sound in which the passage of air is temporarily blocked by the lips, tongue, or glottis.

(UK, grammar, informal) Short for full stop.


transliteration

en-noun

transliteration (countable and uncountable, plural transliterations)

/ˌtɹænzlɪtəˈɹeɪʃən/

This searching was facilitated by the author's knowledge of the vagaries of Anglo-Indian spelling and the numerous colonial-era transliteration systems used for loanwords from Indian languages.

2018, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles”, in World Englishes, volume 37, page 251:

(linguistics, translation studies) The act or product of transliterating, of representing letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script.

(phonetical translation) 音訳 (おんやく, on'yaku)


acatalectic

From Late Latin acatalēcticus, from Ancient Greek ἀκατάληκτος (akatálēktos, “leaving off”).

der

(poetry, prosody) Designating a line of verse having the required number of syllables in the last foot


acatalectic

(poetry, prosody) A verse which has the complete number of feet and syllables


Hunmin Jeongeum

Borrowed from Korean 훈민정음(訓民正音) (Hunminjeong'eum), literally "correct sounds to educate the people".

A book published in Korea in the 15th century, outlining the phonetic script in which Korean is now usually written.


penultimate

From Latin paenultimus, from paene (“almost”) + ultimus (“last”), equivalent to pene- + ultimate.

(linguistics) Of or pertaining to a penult.


penultimate

Antepenultimate is that before the Penultimate, or the last but two.

(uncommon) A penult, a next to last, particularly:

(linguistics, literature, uncommon) The penultimate syllable of a word or metrical line.


hypocoristic

en-adj

hypocoristic (comparative more hypocoristic, superlative most hypocoristic)

more hypocoristic (comparative)
most hypocoristic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ὑποκοριστικός (hupokoristikós), from ὑποκορίζομαι (hupokorízomai, “I speak in the language of children”), from ὑπό (hupó, “below”) + κορίζομαι (korízomai, “I act like a girl”), from κόρη (kórē, “girl”).

uder

ὑποκοριστικός

English surnames which end in -oe usually began as nicknames, since -oe is a Middle English hypocoristic suffix.

Relating to a nickname, usually indicating intimacy with the person.

hipocorístic

relating to a nickname, usually indicating intimacy


hypocoristic

ὑποκοριστικός

A nickname, especially one indicating intimacy and formed through a shortening of the original name.

hipocorístic

nickname, especially one indicating intimacy and formed through shortening of the original name


additive

From Late Latin additivus, from the participial stem of Latin addere (“to add”).

(grammar) A word or phrase that adds something, such as also, even, or nor.


cardinal

en-noun

cardinal (countable and uncountable, plural cardinals)

From Middle French cardinal, from Latin cardinālis (“pertaining to a hinge, hence applied to that on which something turns or depends, important, principal, chief”), from cardin-, cardō (“hinge”) + -ālis, adjectival suffix.

der

The commonest numerals in Latin, as in English, are the "cardinals" […] and the "ordinals" […].

2005, Frederic M. Wheelock, Wheelock's Latin, 6th ed. revised, p.97

cardinal numeral
cardinal numeral#English

(grammar) Short for cardinal numeral, a word used to represent a cardinal number.


exonym

“Mandarin” is what linguists call an exonym, an external name for a place, people, or language. And exonyms often tell of a history of how cultures met, fought, and interacted.

2019 January 4, Sarah Zhang, “Why Mandarin Doesn’t Come From Chinese”, in The Atlantic:

An external name for a place, people or a language used by outgroup members (such as foreigners) instead of ingroup members (such as native-language speakers).


derive

en-verb

derive (third-person singular simple present derives, present participle deriving, simple past and past participle derived)

derives (present singular third-person)
deriving (participle present)
derived (participle past)
derived (past)

From Middle English deriven, from Old French deriver, from Latin dērīvō (“to lead, turn, or draw off (a liquid), draw off, derive”), from dē (“away”) + rīvus (“a stream”); see rival. Unrelated to arrive.

der

(transitive, linguistics) To find the derivation of (a word or phrase).


context

en-noun

context (countable and uncountable, plural contexts)

Without any context, I can't tell you if the "dish" refers to the food, or the thing you eat it on.

(linguistics) The text in which a word or passage appears and which helps ascertain its meaning.


WTC

WTC (countable and uncountable, plural WTCs)

willingness to communicate
w:willingness to communicate

(linguistics) Initialism of willingness to communicate.


eng

Probably created in analogy with other names for nasal consonants em (m) and en (n).

Roman alphabet ŋ: The Latin-based letter formed by combining the letters n and g, used in the IPA, Saami, Mende, and some Australian aboriginal languages. In the IPA, it represents the voiced velar nasal, the ng sound in running and rink. .


GB

Government and Binding
w:Government and Binding

(linguistics) Initialism of Government and Binding.


PS

(linguistics) Initialism of a number of proto-languages' names:


NES

NES (countable and uncountable, plural NESes)

(linguistics) Initialism of native English speaker.


sense

sense (countable and uncountable, plural senses)

→ Afrikaans: sense

From Middle English sense, from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, reason, direction”); partly from Latin sēnsus (“sensation, feeling, meaning”), from sentiō (“feel, perceive”); partly of Germanic origin (whence also Occitan sen, Italian senno), from Vulgar Latin *sennus (“sense, reason, way”), from Frankish *sinn ("reason, judgement, mental faculty, way, direction"; whence also Dutch zin, German Sinn, Swedish sinne, Norwegian sinn). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).

gl

enough sense to pound sand into a rathole

where there's no sense there's no feeling

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 8:8:

I think ’twas in another sense.

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

en:meaning or reason, generally
en:semantics term

The meaning, reason, or value of something.

(semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries or definitions for a word in a dictionary.

(pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.


ë

(lexicography, dated) An orthographic ⟨e⟩ with a diacritic that marks it as being the FACE vowel, as in the word "cafe".


pitch

en-noun

pitch (countable and uncountable, plural pitches)

Unknown. Perhaps from the above sense of "inclination", "level", or "degree", or influenced by it.

The pitch of middle "C" is familiar to many musicians.

(music, phonetics) The perceived frequency of a sound or note.


dummy

мор

bridge: the partner of the winning bidder, who shows his or her hand

The pronoun "it" in "It's a mystery why this happened" is a dummy.

(linguistics) A word serving only to make a construction grammatical.


arity

arity (countable and uncountable, plural arities)

From -ary (taken from unary/binary/ternary [function/operator]) + -ity. Compare adicity and adinity.

(Lojban grammar) the number of arguments (in Lojban grammar called sumti) specified in the definition of a selbri. (the selbri combined with the sumti make up a bridi).


phoneme

From Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound”), from φωνέω (phōnéō, “to sound”), from φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”). By surface analysis, phone (“speech sound”) + -eme (“unit”).

surf

It is crucial for the phoneme structure of Finnish — traditionally /d/ has not been included in the Finnish phonotax, but it fulfils the criteria of a phoneme (Karlsson, 1983: 66-7).

1990, Jarmo Lainio, “Sweden Finnish — development or deterioration?”, in Durk Gorter, editor, Fourth International Conference on Minority Languages: Western and Eastern European papers, Multilingual Matters, →ISBN, page 31:

(phonology) An indivisible unit of sound in a given language. A phoneme is an abstraction of the physical speech sounds (phones) and may encompass several different phones.


theta

→ Malay: teta

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θῆτα (thêta).

(phonology) The voiceless dental fricative represented by θ.


epsilon

en-noun

epsilon (countable and uncountable, plural epsilons or epsila)

From Ancient Greek ἒ ψιλόν (è psilón, “simple Ε”).

uder

(phonetics) In IPA, the phonetic symbol ɛ that represents the open-mid front unrounded vowel.

epsilon

symbol for front half open unrounded vowel


phylum

From Latin phylum, from Ancient Greek φῦλον (phûlon, “tribe, race”).

der

(linguistics) A large division of possibly related languages, or a major language family which is not subordinate to another.


graph

Clipping of graphic formula. From 1878; verb from 1889.

A graph is a token-level nondistinctive representation of a grapheme. It can differ from the other variants of its grapheme with regard to upper case, lower case, script, print, typeface style, typeface size, etc.

2003, J. Richard Andrews, Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, Revised Edition, University of Oklahoma Press, page 10:

(linguistics, typography) A graphical unit on the token-level, the abstracted fundamental shape of a character or letter as distinct from its ductus (realization in a particular typeface or handwriting on the instance-level) and as distinct by a grapheme on the type-level by not fundamentally distinguishing meaning.


PBS

(linguistics) Initialism of Proto-Balto-Slavic.


genus

en-noun

genus (plural genera or (both nonstandard) genuses or genusses)

genera (plural)
genuses (nonstandard plural)
genusses (nonstandard plural)

→ Malayalam: ജീനസ് (jīnasŭ)

→ Swahili: jenasi

→ Thai: สกุล (sà-gun) (semantic loan)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os
Latin genusbor.
English genus
Borrowed from Latin genus (“birth, origin, a race, sort, kind”) from the root gen- in Latin gignō (“to beget, produce”). Doublet of gender, genre, and kin.

genus

rank in a taxonomic classification between family and species

(semantics) Within a definition, a broader category of the defined concept.


decametre

Borrowed from French décamètre. Equivalent to deca- + metre.

(prosody) A line in a poem having ten metrical feet.

(prosody) A poetic metre in which each line has ten feet.


grue

Blend of green + blue. The philosophy sense was coined by American philosopher Nelson Goodman in 1955 to illustrate concepts in the philosophy of science. The linguistic sense was coined by American linguist Paul Kay in 1975 as a translation from languages such as Welsh that have a basic cover term that covers both the hues called "green" and "blue" in English.

coinage

(linguistics) A single color inclusive of both green and blue as different shades, used in translations from languages such as old Welsh and Chinese that lacked a distinction between green and blue.

𑚝𑚯𑚥𑚭

linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors


salty

en-adj

salty (comparative saltier, superlative saltiest)

saltier (comparative)
saltiest (superlative)

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English salti, equivalent to salt + -y.
Compare Saterland Frisian soaltig (“salty”), West Frisian sâltich (“salty”), Dutch zoutig (“salty”), German Low German soltig (“salty”), German salzig (“salty”).
(coarse; irritated, annoyed): Referencing the sharp, 'spicy' flavor of salt.
(indignant): Perhaps implying the person is a crybaby, shedding salty tears, or derived from the preceding.

(linguistics) Pertaining to the Sardinian language and those dialects of Catalan, spoken in the Balearic Islands and along the coast of Catalonia, that use definitive articles descended from the Latin ipse (“self”) instead of the Latin ille (“that”).

salat

pertaining to article usage in Catalan dialects


nucleus

Learned borrowing from Latin nucleus (“kernel, core”). The earliest uses refer to the head of a comet and the kernel of a seed, both recorded in Lexicon Technicum in 1704. The sense in atomic physics was coined by Scientist Michael Faraday in 1844 in a theoretical meaning.

coin

(phonetics, phonology) The central part of a syllable, most commonly a vowel.


class

en-noun

class (countable and uncountable, plural classes)

→ Assamese: ক্লাছ (klas)

→ Bengali: ক্লাস (klaś)

q

or from French <i class="Latn mention" lang="fr">classe</i>

→ Gulf Arabic: كلاس (klās) (or from French classe)

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: क्लास (klās)

Urdu: کلاس

→ Japanese: クラス (kurasu)

→ Korean: 클래스 (keullaeseu)

→ Nepali: क्लास (klās)

→ Scottish Gaelic: clas

→ Thai: คลาส (kláas)

→ Yoruba: kíláàsì

From Middle French classe, from Latin classis (“a class or division of the people, assembly of people, the whole body of citizens called to arms, the army, the fleet, later a class or division in general”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, shout”). Doublet of clas and classis.

class action

class-action, class action lawsuit, class suit

Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.

2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

(sociology, countable) A social grouping, based on job, wealth, etc. In Britain, society is commonly split into three main classes: upper class, middle class and working class.


AI

en-noun

AI (countable and uncountable, plural AIs)

Audio (US)

(phonetics) Initialism of articulatory index.

(linguistics, anthropology) Initialism of atavistic-idiosyncratic.


OE

(linguistics) Initialism of Old English.


PG

(linguistics) Initialism of Proto-Germanic.


SSE

Scottish English
Scottish English#English

(linguistics) Initialism of Standard Scottish English/Scottish Standard English.


Christian name

(Singapore) An English given name, particularly for ethnic Chinese who usually have a separate Chinese name.


eponym

Albert Einstein
Alois Alzheimer
Charles Boycott
Christopher Columbus
Earl of Sandwich
Enrico Fermi
Euclid
Isaac Newton
Nicolaus Copernicus
Victoria
eponym

From Latin eponymus, from Ancient Greek ἐπώνῠμος (epṓnumos), from ἐπί (epí, “upon, epi-”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”) + -ος (-os, suffix forming adjectives and nouns). Equivalent to epi- + -nym.

эпані́м

person's name that has given rise to the name of something

antonomasia

using an eponym as an example of some quality

A noun for something named after a person.

Rockefeller became the very eponym of wealth.

(archaic) Synonym of epitome, a person taken as a symbol or quintessential representative of some trait, school, etc.

epitome

It was only posthumously that Julian was distinguished with the eponym "Apostate".

(archaic) Synonym of epithet, a distinguishing title.

Alexandria is an eponym, taken from its founder Alexander the Great.

[Mesmer] lives on today as the root of the eponym mesmerize.

2004, Bill Sherk, 500 Years of New Words, →ISBN:

For their dubious contribution to literature, Doctor Bowdler and Henrietta were recognized with the eponym bowdlerize[.]

2015, Robert B. Taylor, What Every Medical Writer Needs to Know, →ISBN:

An eponym was once considered medicine’s highest honor. Like monuments to great generals, they paid tribute to medicine’s most brilliant minds, ensuring their names would live on in perpetuity.

2023 June 19, Rachel E. Gross, “Should Medicine Still Bother With Eponyms?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(sometimes proscribed) A name taken from a person, a namesake toponym, term, etc.

"Tangerine" is an eponym in reference to Tangier... The unflattering eponym "shanghai" derived from the behavior of American shippers, not the Chinese themselves...

(loosely, sometimes proscribed) A name or term derived from any proper noun, inclusive of places, brands, etc.


cognitive

en-adj

cognitive (comparative more cognitive, superlative most cognitive)

more cognitive (comparative)
most cognitive (superlative)

From Medieval Latin cognitīvus, from Latin cognitus, perfect passive participle of cognōscō (“I get to know”) + -īvus (adjective suffix).

trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy

Wanux "white man," cognitive with Aben. awanoch, now used for "Canadian Frenchman";

1903, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia:

(linguistics, rare, obsolete) Cognate; to be recognized as cognate.


cognitive

Abenaki awanoch, the cognitive of Penobscot awenoch, means Frenchman,

(linguistics, rare, obsolete) A cognate.


lexicon

William Fulke
lexicon
lexicon (disambiguation)

Through Middle French or directly from New Latin lexicon, from Byzantine Greek λεξικόν (lexikón, “a lexicon, a dictionary”), ellipsis from Ancient Greek λεξικὸν βιβλίον (lexikòn biblíon, literally “a book of words”), from λεξικός (lexikós, “of words”), from λέξις (léxis, “a saying, speech, word”), from λέγω (légō, “to speak”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather, collect”).
Attested at least since 1583 (in William Fulke's A Defense of the Sincere and True Translations of the Holy Scriptures into the English tongue) in the sense 'a dictionary of a classical language'.

der

λεξικὸν βιβλίον

Coordinate term: lexis

Formalism seeks to correct this deficiency by translating verbal texts into formal, mathematizable lexicons which are then manipulated into general propositions.

1979, Charles C. Lemert, “Language, Structure, and Measurement: Structuralist Semiotics and Sociology”, in The American Journal of Sociology, volume 84, number 4, page 944:

Sluiter examines a tension inherent in such scholarly works as lexica, scholia, epitomai, and commentaries: although the very titles of these works claim no more than secondary status, their authors engage nonetheless in a rhetoric of self-legitimation.

2000, Mary Depew, Dirk Obbink, Matrices of Genre: Authors, Canons, and Society, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 10, →ISBN:

(lexicography, linguistics) A dictionary that includes or focuses on lexemes.

A dictionary of Classical Greek, Hebrew, Latin, or Aramaic.

λεξικό

programming language
programming language

(programming) The lexicology of a programming language. (Usually called lexical structure.)


generic

en-adj

generic (comparative more generic, superlative most generic)

more generic (comparative)
most generic (superlative)

gendered

antonym(s) of “neither masculine nor feminine”

From Middle French générique, from Latin genus (“genus, kind”) + -ic; thus morphologically parallel with, and a doublet of, general.

Words like salesperson and firefighter are generic.

(grammar) specifying neither masculine nor feminine; epicene; unisex.

ზოგადი

specifying neither masculine nor feminine e.g. salesperson


generic

[…]a male-centered perspective[…]has resulted in false generics in everyday life[…]

1998, Jacqueline A. Dienemann, Nursing administration: managing patient care:

(grammar) A term that specifies neither male nor female.


paradigm

en-noun

paradigm (plural paradigms or paradigmata)

Established 1475-85 from Late Latin paradīgma, from Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (parádeigma, “pattern”), from παραδείκνυμι (paradeíknumi, “I show [beside] or compare”) + -μα (-ma, suffix forming nouns concerning the results of actions).

der

The paradigm of "to sing" is "sing, sang, sung". The verb "to ring" follows the same paradigm.

(linguistics) A set of all forms which contain a common element, especially the set of all inflectional forms of a word or a particular grammatical category.

paradigma

linguistics: all forms which contain a common element

قِيَاس

عِلْمُ الصَّرْف


Venetian

From Latin Venetianus (“Venetic; Venetian”), from Venetia (“lands of the Veneti; Venice, Veneto; Armorica”) + -anus (“-ian”), from Veneti + -ia. In the case of the Veneti of northern Brittany, derived from Gaulish Uenetoi (“the friendly ones, the kinsmen”), from Proto-Celtic *wenet, a derivation from *wenyā (“kindred”). In the case of the Veneti of northeastern Italy, of uncertain origin but presumably taken from a Venetic endonym, possibly Illyrian or Celtic. Equivalent to Veneto or Venetia + -ian.

(linguistics) Of or related to Venetian, the local language or Italian dialect spoken in the city.


surname

From Middle English surname, a partial calque of Old French surnum, surnoun (“surname; nickname”) (whence Middle English surnoun), from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen (“surname”), from super- (“over, above, beyond”) and nōmen (“name”), equivalent to sur- + name.

apelido m (Portugal, means "nickname" in Brazil)

про́звище n (prózvišče) (dated, now means "nickname")

patronymic

a surname specifically referencing one's father's given name

matronymic

a surname specifically referencing one's mother's given name

James is my first name, and Smith is my surname.

In late yeeres Surnames have beene given for Christian names among vs, and no where else in Christendom.

The Norman Conquest...brought with it the novelty of family nomenclature, that is to say, the use of hereditary surnames.

1876, E. A. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest, V xxv 563:

The portion of a person's name that is generally hereditary or treated as an indicator of a person's family, which may be shared with other members of the family, or otherwise derived from their names in some fashion; distinguished from that person's given name(s).

I have before declared that Baal was the Sun, and Baal Peor, a sirname, from a particular place of his worship.

1638, Abraham Cowley, Davideis, section IV:

(obsolete) Synonym of nickname, an additional name given to a person, place, or thing, a byname.

nickname

(Classical studies) The cognomen of Roman names.


acephalous

en-adj

acephalous (comparative more acephalous, superlative most acephalous)

more acephalous (comparative)
most acephalous (superlative)

From French acéphale, from Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). By surface analysis, a- + -cephalous.

der

They have acephalous or headless Verses, which commence with a short Syllable instead of a long one:

1746, Claude Lancelot, translated by T. Nugent, A New Method of Learning with Greater Facility the Greek Tongue, London: J. Nourse and G. Hawkins, Volume 2, Book 9, p. 348:

Sometimes verse lines “jump” the first syllable (in anapaestic and dactylic measures the first two syllables) of a regular metre. Such lines are said to be acephalous (headless) or, as acrostic writers would put it, “beheaded.”

1934, Robert Swann, Frank Sidgwick, chapter 2, in The Making of Verse: A Guide to English Metres, London: Sidgwick & Jackson, page 16:

(prosody) Deficient in the beginning, as a line of poetry that is missing its expected opening syllable.


error

en-noun

error (countable and uncountable, plural errors)

From Middle English errour, from Anglo-Norman errour, borrowed from Old French error, from Latin error (“wandering about”), infinitive of errō (“to wander, to err”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌴𐌹 (airzei, “error”), Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌾𐌰𐌽 (airzjan, “to lead astray”). More at err.

誤審

appellate law: one or more mistakes in a trial

:Category:English terms prefixed with mis-

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 495. Error

(linguistics) An unintentional deviation from the inherent rules of a language variety made by a second language learner.


machine translation

en-noun

machine translation (countable and uncountable, plural machine translations)

(translation studies) The act of translating something from one language to another by means of a machine, especially a computer.

itzulpengintza automatikoa

act of translating something by means of a machine


splinter

From Middle English splinter, from Middle Dutch splinter, equivalent to splint + -er.

(linguistics) A fragment of a component word in a blend.


phone

From Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”).

(phonetics) A speech segment that possesses distinct physical or perceptual properties, considered as a physical event without regard to its place in the phonology of a language.


closed

open

antonym(s) of “also phonetics (of vowels, syllables)”

(phonology) Formed by closing the mouth and nose passages completely, like the consonants /t/, /d/, and /p/.

(phonology) Having the sound cut off sharply by a following consonant, like the /ɪ/ in pin.


genetic

/d͡ʒəˈnɛtɪk/

/d͡ʒɪˈnɛtɪk/

Coined from genesis, similarly to antithesis, antithetic. Ultimately from Ancient Greek γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “I come into being”). By surface analysis, gene + -tic or genesis + -etic.

der

Chinese has borrowed several words from English, but it does not have a genetic relationship to English.

(linguistics) Based on shared membership in a linguistic family.


scalar

Borrowed from Latin scālāris, adjectival form from scāla (“a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder, scale”), for *scadla, from scandere (“to climb”); compare scale. The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

coin

Spector (2006, 2007) suggests to derive this inference as a scalar implicature.

2014, Salvatore Pistoia Reda, Pragmatics, Semantics and the Case of Scalar Implicatures:

Also, the scalar meaning in both sentences is not sensitive to context, because the truth value of the sentences does not change depending on context.

2018, Osamu Sawada, Pragmatic Aspects of Scalar Modifiers, page 26:

In Mandarin Chinese, the same sentence containing a numeral-classifier phrase as a negative polarity item can be employed for two types of scalar inferences based on either the numeral or the noun.

2019, Penka Stateva, Anne Reboul, Scalar Implicatures, page 8:

(linguistics) Pertaining to the dimension on which something is measured.


onomatopoeia

en-noun

onomatopoeia (countable and uncountable, plural onomatopoeias or onomatopoeiae)

onomatopoeias (plural)
onomatopoeiae (plural)

/ˌɒnəˌmætəˈpiːə/

/ˌɒnəˌmɛtəˈpæɪə/

/ˌɑnəˌmætəˈpiːə/

/ˌɑnəˌmɑtəˈpiːə/

/ˌɑnəˌmɑnəˈpiːə/

[ˌänɪˌmänʌˈpʰɪi̯ːjʌ]

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀνοματοποιία (onomatopoiía, “the coining of a word in imitation of a sound”), from ὀνοματοποιέω (onomatopoiéō, “to coin names”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”) + ποιέω (poiéō, “to make, to do, to produce”).

bor

ὀνοματοποιία

onomatope

word that sounds like what it represents

onomatopoēticum (cf. vocābulum onomatopoëticum, vocābulum onomatopoēticum, vōx onomatopoētica)

Wiktionary's category of English onomatopoeias

(uncountable, rhetoric) The use of language whose sound imitates that which it names.


nexus

en-noun

nexus (countable and uncountable, plural nexuses or nexusses or (rare) nexus)

nexuses (plural)
nexusses (plural)
nexus (plural rare)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-nexus.wav

From Latin nexus (“connection, nexus; act of binding, tying or fastening together; something which binds, binding, bond, fastening, joint; legal obligation”), from nectō (“to attach, bind, connect, fasten, tie; to interweave; to relate; to unite; to bind by obligation, make liable, oblige; to compose, contrive, devise, produce”) + -tus (suffix forming verbal nouns).

der

(grammar) In the work of the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen (1860–1943): a group of words expressing two concepts in one unit (such as a clause or sentence).


attribute

From Latin attributus past participle of attribuere.


future tense

(grammar) The tense or time form of a verb used to refer to an event or occurrence that has not yet happened or is expected to happen in the future.

futuro semplice

referring to an action, a state, ... which is expected will be in progress or not yet started at the future time of reference

futuro anteriore

a state, ... which is expected that will be finished/ended/completed at the future time of reference


past tense

This is a report on a study of the use of the past tense forms in the 53 Japanese samples compiled for the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI) project.

2004, Tomoko Koneko, “The Use of Past Tense Forms by Japanese Learners of English”, in Junsaku Nakamura, Nagayuki Inoue, Tomoji Tabata, editors, English Corpora under Japanese Eyes, Rodopi, page 215:

As you have studied Spanish, you have probably had the feeling that there are just too many past tenses.

2009, Eric W. Vogt, Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Past-Tense Verbs Up Close, McGraw Hill, page v:

Some members of the [Mongolic language] family have three or more different affixes which seem to be markers of the past tense, so that in Khalkha, for example, irev, irjee, irlee, and irsen all can translate, and be translated by, the English past tense verb came.

2012, Robert I. Binnick, The Past Tenses of the Mongolian Verb, BRILL, page 1:

(grammar) A grammatical form (often a verb form) that refers to an event, transaction, occurrence, or object that happened (or had happened), or existed, at some time before now (the applicable reference time).


degree

From Middle English degre, borrowed from Old French degré (French: degré), itself from Latin gradus, with the prefix de-.

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 26. Degree

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 31. Greatness

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 32. Smallness

She has two bachelor's degrees and is studying towards a master's degree.

A stage of proficiency or qualification in a course of study, now especially an award bestowed by a university or, in some countries, a college, as a certification of academic achievement. (In the United States, can include secondary schools.)

The set of complex numbers constitutes a field extension of degree 2 over the real numbers.

The Galois field #x5C;operatorname#x7B;GF#x7D;(125)#x3D;#x5C;operatorname#x7B;GF#x7D;(5³) has degree 3 over its subfield #x5C;operatorname#x7B;GF#x7D;(5).

(algebra, field theory) The dimensionality of a field extension.

(grammar) Any of the stages (like positive, comparative, superlative, elative) in the comparison of an adjective or an adverb.

And they axed hym ſayinge: Maſter / we knowe that thou ſayest / and teacheſt ryght / nether conſidereſt thou eny mãnes degre / but teacheſt the waye of god truely.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Luke xx:[21], folio cx, recto:

But when Adam delued, and Eue ſpan,
VVho was then a Gentleman.
Brethren, brethren, it were better to haue this communitie,
Then to haue this difference in degrees:
The landlord his rent, the lawyer his fees.
So quickly the poore mans ſubſtance is ſpent […]

1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:

A stage of rank or privilege; social standing.


present tense

Animals—lions and zebras and beautiful snakes—live vividly in the present tense, in a bright unconsciousness of time. That is their innocence and their limitation. Humans carry with them their experiences, their pasts; men and women work with a knowledge of consequences and, doing so, impose order on the chaotic present and project consequences into the future.

1998 March 30, Lance Morrow, “The Trouble With The Present Tense”, in Time:

(grammar) A grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time.


operator

en-noun

operator (countable and uncountable, plural operators)

/ˈɒpəˌɹeɪtə/

/ˈɑpəˌɹeɪtɚ/

Borrowed from Latin operatōr, from operor (“work, labour”). Equivalent to operate + -or.

In the sentence "What did Bill say he wants to buy?", "what" is an operator, binding a phonetically empty variable.

(linguistics) A kind of expression that enters into an a-bar movement dependency and is said to bind a variable.


glossary

From Middle English glosarie, from Latin glossārium, from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “tongue”). Doublet of glossarium.

At the back of the book you can find the glossary.

A list of difficult words or specialized terms used in a particular book or document, or in a particular domain of knowledge, with their definitions; a list of glosses (explanatory annotations).


acute

en-adj

acute (comparative acuter or more acute, superlative acutest or most acute)

acuter (comparative)
more acute (comparative)
acutest (superlative)
most acute (superlative)

From Late Middle English acute (“of a disease or fever: starting suddenly and lasting for a short time; of a humour: irritating, sharp”), from Latin acūta, from acūtus (“sharp, sharpened”), perfect passive participle of acuō (“to make pointed, sharpen, whet”), from acus (“needle, pin”). The word is cognate to ague (“acute, intermittent fever”).
As regards the noun, which is derived from the verb, compare Middle English acūte (“severe but short-lived fever; of blood: corrosiveness, sharpness; musical note of high pitch”).

cog

Let this [the word alalal] be ſpoken as an Engliſh word, with the ſtrong accent on either ſyllable, or, on each, in repeating the word; and, no change of articulation diſturbing the ear, it will be abundantly evident that, with ordinary Engliſh pronunciation, the strengthened syllable has always the acuter tone, or, in muſical phraſe, the higher note.

1804, William Mitford, “Section IV. Of Tones or Accents, and Emphasis in English Speech, and of Their Connection with the Time or Quantity of Syllables.”, in An Inquiry into the Principles of Harmony in Language, and of the Mechanism of Verse, Modern and Antient, 2nd edition, London: Printed by Luke Hansard, […], for T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, pages 57–58:

(linguistics, chiefly historical) Of an accent or tone: generally higher than others.

akuutti

(linguistics) of an accent or tone: generally higher than others

(phonology, dated, of a sound) Sharp, produced in the front of the mouth. (See Grave and acute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia)


acute

[I]t would be strange if we wer to recite Homer, raising our voices on the acutes, lowering them on the graves, and managing the circumflexes as well as we could, yet to recite Virgil without any of these regular elevations, depressions, and circumbendibus.

1827, Uvedale Price, “Restoration of Ancient Accent Impossible”, in An Essay on the Modern Pronunciation of the Greek and Latin Languages, Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter, →OCLC, page 206:

There would be no sense in our assuming that even an independent circumflex after an acute might be raised in pitch for the sake of clearer distinction from that acute; for it is sufficiently distinguished by its sliding tone; and, if it had any right to be further distinguished, an acute following an acute would have much more right; while, nevertheless, any number of acutes are allowed to succeed one another, without modification of their natural character.

1869–1870, William D[wight] Whitney, “II.—On the Nature and Designation of the Accent in Sanskrit.”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, Hartford, Conn.: Published by the [American Philological] Association; printed by Case, Lockwood & Brainard, published 1871, →OCLC, pages 40–41:

(linguistics, chiefly historical) An accent or tone higher than others.


acute

en-verb

acute (third-person singular simple present acutes, present participle acuting, simple past and past participle acuted)

acutes (present singular third-person)
acuting (participle present)
acuted (participle past)
acuted (past)

He acutes his rising inflection too much.

Polyſyllables having their Penultima long by poſition are acuted; as Camíllus: but having it long by nature and the last ſhort, they are circumflected; as, Românus, amâre: except the Compounds of ſit, whose Ultima is acuted; as Malefít, calefít, benefít, ſatisfít.

1696, [William] Lily, W. T., “Prosodia Examin’d and Explain’d by Question and Answer”, in Lily, Improved, Corrected, and Explained; with the Etymological Part of the Common Accidence, London: Printed for R. Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 151:

This word ωροπαροξύνον has been generally underſtood, before Dr. G[ally] undertook to explain it otherwiſe, to ſignify "acuting the antepenultima."

1762, John Foster, “On the Accent of the Old Greeks. […]”, in An Essay on the Different Nature of Accent and Quantity, with Their Use and Application in the Pronunciation of the English, Latin, and Greek Languages; […], Eton, Berkshire: Printed by J. Pote; […], →OCLC, pages 103–104:

O is a broad vowel. When acuted, it is pronounced as o in gone; thus, cron, son; when circumflexed, as o in bone; thus, ôney. And thus it answers to the Greek Omicron and Omega.

1859, John Kelly, “On the Pronunciation of the Manks Letters”, in A Practical Grammar of the Antient Gaelic, or Language of the Isle of Man, usually Called Manks. […] (Manx Society series; 2), Douglas, Isle of Man: Printed for the Manx Society, →OCLC; reprinted London: Bernard Quaritch, […], 1870, →OCLC, page 4:

That the acute accent meant stress is plain from the inherited intonation of the modern Greeks; […] and, if any person objects that the modern Greek not only acutes the last syllables of these words, but makes their quantity long, this is all in favour of my argument; […]

1874, John Stuart Blackie, “On the Place and Power of Accent in Language”, in Horæ Hellenicæ: Essays and Discussions on Some Important Points of Greek Philology and Antiquity, London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, paragraph 4, page 347:

(transitive, phonetics) To give an acute sound to.


pure

en-adj

pure (comparative purer or more pure, superlative purest or most pure)

purer (comparative)
more pure (comparative)
purest (superlative)
most pure (superlative)

contaminated

antonym(s) of “free of foreign material”

corrupt

antonym(s) of “free of immoral behavior”

→ Welsh: piwr

From Middle English pure, pur, from Old French pur, from Latin pūrus (“clean, free from dirt or filth, unmixed, plain”), from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“to cleanse, purify”). Displaced native Middle English lutter (“pure, clear, sincere”) (from Old English hlūtor, hluttor), Middle English skere (“pure, sheer, clear”) (from Old English scǣre and Old Norse skǣr), Middle English schir (“clear, pure”) (from Old English scīr), Middle English smete, smeate (“pure, refined”) (from Old English smǣte; compare Old English mǣre (“pure”)).

noncog

(phonetics) Of a single, simple sound or tone; said of some vowels and the unaspirated consonants.

puhdas

phonetics: of a single, simple sound or tone


Oxford

From Middle English Oxenford, Oxneford, from Old English Oxnaford (“Oxford”, literally “oxen's ford”), equivalent to ox + ford. Compare Old Norse Öxnafurða.

inh

A number of places in the United States:

A village in Furnas County and Harlan County, Nebraska.


analogy

en-noun

analogy (countable and uncountable, plural analogies)

/əˈnæləd͡ʒi/

From Latin analogia, from Ancient Greek ἀναλογίᾱ (analogíā), from ἀνα- (ana-) + λόγος (lógos, “speech, reckoning”).

(grammar) The correspondence of a word or phrase with the genius of a language, as learned from the manner in which its words and phrases are ordinarily formed; similarity of derivative or inflectional processes.

قِيَاس

grammar: similarity of derivative or inflectional processes


Belgian

(linguistics) A hypothetical extinct Indo-European language, supposed to have been spoken distinct from Celtic in late prehistory, in certain parts of what has become known as Gaul.


moniker

Online Etymological Dictionary
Saturday Review (London newspaper)

Unknown, first attested 1849. Suggested derivations are:
* Backslang for ekename (compare nickname);
* From Shelta munik, munika;
* From monk;
* Partridge (A Dictionary of Historical Slang) suggests a corruption of monogram, which is suggestive of the sense signature.
* From monarch in the sense 'king or No. 1, and thus with frank egotism, "I, myself".' (The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 281, pg. 349.)
Online Etymological Dictionary's entry cites in 1857, the Saturday Review (London newspaper) noted, "the word has a certain Coptic or Egyptian twang".

The rookie was upset at being called Lemon Drop until she realized that everyone on the team had a silly moniker.

Again fairly common, and always amusing, are the monikers drawn from the (imagined) childhood of a particular vagrant.

2000, Jim Phelan, “Irish Writing in the 1940s”, in David Pierce, editor, Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader, page 541:

A gang member may receive a new identity by taking on a nickname, or moniker, which others in the gang world would recognize. Monikers affirm a youth's commitment to gang life and may become their sole identity, the only way they see thselves and the only name they go by.

2010, Linda S. Miller, Kären M. Hess, Christine M. H. Orthmann, Community Policing: Partnerships for Problem Solving, 6th edition, page 388:

Recently, a class of reactions has gained tremendous attention in the chemistry community under the moniker of "click chemistry," a concept introduced by Kolb and colleagues.

2010, Neal K. Devaraj, Ralph Weissleder, “30: "Click Chemistry": Applications to Molecular Imaging”, in Ralph Weissleder, Brian D. Ross, Alnawaz Rehemtulla, Sanjiv Sam, editors, Molecular Imaging, Principles and Practice, page 471:

Actually, the various monikers Pilgrims, Puritans, Plymouth Rocks, Red Stockings, Hubs and Hubites were frequently used, informally, for both Boston big league clubs until 1912.

2012, Richard Worth, Baseball Team Names, unnumbered page:

A personal name or nickname; an informal label, often drawing attention to a particular attribute.


prototype

/ˈpɹəʊtətʌɪp/

From French prototype or Late Latin prototypon, from Ancient Greek πρωτότυπος (prōtótupos, “original; prototype”), from πρωτο- (prōto-, “first”) (from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first; earliest”)) + τῠ́πος (túpos, “blow, pressing; sort, type”) (from τύπτω (túptō, “to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to push; to stick”)). The word is analysable as proto- + -type.

der

A robin is a prototype of a bird; a penguin is not.

If the robin is the prototype of bird, do particular examples of robin constitute that prototype for different people? I think not. Rather, prototypes are themselves categories. Thus, to say that a robin is a prototypic bird is to propose that a class of similar creatures called robin is a prototype of bird.

2014, Cecil H. Brown, “A Survey of Category Types in Natural Language”, in S[avas] L. Tsohatzidis, editor, Meanings and Prototypes: Studies in Linguistic Categorization (Routledge Library Editions: Linguistics), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part 1 (On the Content of Prototype Categories: Questions of Word Meaning), page 23:

Although it is common knowledge today that a great many linguistic categories are, indeed, prototype categories[…], a number of linguists still perceive grammatical categories as being classical in their nature[…]. These linguists are reluctant to accept the idea that prototypicality might be relevant to grammar and that grammatical categories, like all other categories, can also display prototype effects.

2015, [anonymous], “Introduction”, in Words, Affixes, and Clitics as Prototype Categories: Seminar Paper, [Munich, Bavaria]: GRIN Verlag, →ISBN, page 2:

(semantics) An instance of a category or a concept that combines its most representative attributes.


cerebral

en-adj

cerebral (comparative more cerebral, superlative most cerebral)

more cerebral (comparative)
most cerebral (superlative)

Semantic loan from Sanskrit मूर्धन्य (mūrdhanya, “pertaining to the head”).


vanish

Aphetic for obsolete evanish, from Middle English vanyshen, evaneschen, from Old French esvanir, esvaniss- (modern French évanouir), from Vulgar Latin *exvanire (“to vanish, disappear, to fade out”), from Latin evanescere, from vanus (“empty”). Doublet of evanesce.

der

a as in ale ordinarily ends with a vanish of i as in ill.

o as in old ordinarily ends with a vanish of oo as in foot.

The median stres may also on a protracted quantity , slightly resemble respectively that of the radical and of the vanish , by sudenly enlarging in the course of the prolongation and gradualy diminishing ; and by the reverse

1827, James Rush, The Philosophy of the Human Voice:

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(phonetics) The brief terminal part of a vowel or vocal element, differing more or less in quality from the main part.


Iranian

/ɪˈɹɑːni.ən/

(linguistics) Pertaining to the Iranian languages or their speakers.

Irans

pertaining to the Iranian languages or the Iranian peoples


tap

en-noun

tap (countable and uncountable, plural taps)

The verb is derived from Middle English tappen, teppen (“to give (something) a knock or tap; to hit (something) lightly, pat, tap”), either:
* imitative of the making of a tapping sound; or
* from Old French tapper, taper (“to tap”) (modern French taper), from Frankish *tappōn, *dabbōn (“to strike”), or from Middle Low German tappen, tapen (“to rap, strike, tap”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dab- (“to strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰebʰ- (“to beat, strike; to stun; to be speechless”). Doublet of dab.
Verb sense 1.1.1 (“to arrest (someone)”) and sense 1.6 (“to choose or designate (someone) for a duty, etc.”) allude to a police officer or other person tapping someone on their shoulder to catch their attention or to select them.
The noun is derived from Middle English tap, tappe (“light blow or hit”), and then either:
* from Middle English tappen (verb) (see above); or
* from Old French tape (“light slap or touch, pat”) (modern French tape), from tapper, taper (verb) (see above).
cognates
* German tappen (“to fumble; to grope”)
* Icelandic tappa, tapsa, tæpta (“to tap”)

der

(phonetics) A single muscle contraction in vocal organs causing a consonant sound; also, the sound so made.


agglutinative

en-adj

agglutinative (comparative more agglutinative, superlative most agglutinative)

more agglutinative (comparative)
most agglutinative (superlative)

[əˈɡɫut̚nəɾɪv]

(grammar) Having words derived by combining parts, each with a separate meaning.


agglutinative

[əˈɡɫut̚nəɾɪv]

(grammar) A word formed from the combination of parts, each with a separate meaning.


borrow

en-verb

borrow (third-person singular simple present borrows, present participle borrowing, simple past and past participle borrowed)

borrows (present singular third-person)
borrowing (participle present)
borrowed (participle past)
borrowed (past)
borrow (infinitive)

carry

the equivalent reverse procedure in the inverse operation of addition

From Middle English borwen, borȝien, Old English borgian (“to borrow, lend, pledge surety for”), from Proto-West Germanic *borgōn, from Proto-Germanic *burgōną (“to pledge, take care of”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to take care”).
Cognate with Dutch borgen (“to borrow, trust”), German borgen (“to borrow, lend”), Danish borge (“to vouch”). Related to Old English beorgan (“to save, preserve”). More at bury.

cog

(linguistics) To adopt a word from another language.


trial

From Latin tri- (stem of trēs (“three”)) + -al, on the pattern of dual.

No language has a trial number unless it has a dual.

(grammar) Pertaining to a language form referring to three of something, like people. (See Ambai language for an example.)

trialis

pertaining to a language form referring to three of something


reception

en-noun

reception (countable and uncountable, plural receptions)

/ɹɪˈsɛp.ʃn̩/

Borrowed from Middle French reception, from Latin recipiō(n) (“the act of receiving; reception”), from recipiō (“receive”), from re- (“back”) + capiō (“I hold”).

der

(linguistics) Reading viewed as the active process of receiving a text in any medium (written, spoken, signed, multimodal, nonverbal), consisting of several steps, such as ideation, comprehension, reconstruction, interpretation.


substitution

en-noun

substitution (countable and uncountable, plural substitutions)

From Middle French substitution, from Late Latin substitutio.

Coordinate term: importation

(linguistics) The expansion of the lexicon of a language by native means in correspondence to a foreign term.

substituutio

expansion of the lexicon by native means in correspondence to a foreign term


dynamic

en-adj

dynamic (comparative more dynamic, superlative most dynamic)

more dynamic (comparative)
most dynamic (superlative)

static

antonym(s) of “Changing, active, in motion”

From French dynamique, from Ancient Greek δυναμικός (dunamikós, “powerful”), from δύναμις (dúnamis, “power”), from δύναμαι (dúnamai, “I am able”).

der

(grammar) Of a verb: not stative, but fientive; indicating continued or progressive action on the part of the subject.


dynamic

(grammar) A verb that indicates continued or progressive action on the part of the subject.


strong

en-adj

strong (comparative stronger, superlative strongest)

stronger (comparative)
strongest (superlative)

forceless

antonym(s) of “capable of producing great physical force”

fragile

antonym(s) of “capable of withstanding great physical force”

diluted

antonym(s) of “having a high concentration of an essential or active ingredient”

Sranan Tongo: tranga

Aukan: taanga

Saramaccan: taánga

From Middle English strong, strang, from Old English strang, from Proto-West Germanic *strang, from Proto-Germanic *strangaz (“tight, strict, straight, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“taut, stiff, tight”). Cognate with Scots strang (“strong”), Saterland Frisian strang, West Frisian string (“austere, strict, harsh, severe, stern, stark, tough”), Dutch streng (“strict, severe, tight”), German streng (“strict, severe, austere”), Swedish sträng, strang (“severe, strict, harsh”), Norwegian strang (“strong, harsh, bitter”), Norwegian streng (“strong, hard”), Icelandic strangur (“strict”), Latin stringō (“tighten”).

cog

a chain is only as strong as its weakest link

the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must

a strong verb

(grammar) Inflecting in a different manner than the one called weak, such as Germanic verbs which change vowels.


goal

→ Armenian: գոլ (gol)

→ Azerbaijani: qol

→ Basque: gol

→ Belarusian: гол (hol)

→ Bulgarian: гол (gol)

→ Catalan: gol

→ Central Kurdish: گۆڵ (goll)

→ Czech: gól

→ Dutch: goal

→ Esperanto: golo

→ French: goal

→ Galician: gol

→ Georgian: გოლი (goli)

→ Greek: γκολ (gkol)

→ Hungarian: gól

→ Ido: golo

→ Indonesian: gol

→ Italian: gol

→ Japanese: ゴール (gōru)

→ Korean: 골 (gol)

→ Luxembourgish: Gol

→ Maori: kōrā

→ Persian: گل (gol)

→ Polish: gol

→ Portuguese: golo

→ Romanian: gol

→ Russian: гол (gol)

→ Serbo-Croatian: го̑л (gȏl)

→ Slovak: gól

→ Slovene: gól

→ Spanish: gol

→ Swahili: goli

→ Telugu: గోలు (gōlu)

→ Turkish: gol

→ Ukrainian: гол (hol)

→ Zazaki: gol

From Middle English gol (“boundary, limit”), from Old English *gāl (“obstacle, barrier, marker”), suggested by its derivatives Old English gǣlan (“to hinder, delay, impede, keep in suspense, linger, hesitate, dupe”), and hyġegǣls (“hesitating, slow, sluggish”), hyġegǣlsa (“slow one, sluggish one”). Possibly cognate with Lithuanian gãlas (“end”), Latvian gals (“end”), Old Prussian gallan (“death”), Albanian ngalem (“to be limping, lame, paralyzed”), ngel (“to remain, linger, hesitate, get stuck”).

cog

(linguistics, grammar) A noun or noun phrase that receives the action of a verb. The subject of a passive verb or the direct object of an active verb. Also called a patient, target, or undergoer.


hybrid

Known in English since 1601, but rare before c.1850. From Latin hybrida, a variant of hibrida (“a mongrel; specifically, offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar”).

mulard

of a domestic variety of mallard × female muscovy

Something of mixed origin or composition; often, a tool or technology that combines the benefits of formerly separate tools or technologies.

(linguistics) A word whose elements are derived from different languages.

vox hybrida (often printed in antiqua when using fraktur or printed in italics when using antiqua)


historic

en-adj

historic (comparative more historic, superlative most historic)

more historic (comparative)
most historic (superlative)

From Latin historicus (“historical”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορικός (historikós, “exact; historical”). Cognate with French historique.

der

The historic tenses include the imperfect, the pluperfect, and the future perfect.

(grammar) Various grammatical tenses and moods specially used in retelling past events.


weak

en-adj

weak (comparative weaker, superlative weakest)

weaker (comparative)
weakest (superlative)

healthy

antonym(s) of “lacking in force or ability”

potent

antonym(s) of “lacking in taste or potency”

From Middle English weyk, wayk, weik, waik, from Old Norse veikr (“weak”), from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz (“weak, yielded, pliant, bendsome”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to bend, wind”).
Cognate with Old English wāc (“weak, bendsome”), Saterland Frisian wook (“soft, gentle, tender”), West Frisian weak (“soft”), Dutch week (“soft, weak”), German weich (“weak, soft”), Norwegian veik (“weak”), Swedish vek (“weak, pliant”), Icelandic veikur (“bendsome, weak”). Related to Old English wīcan (“to yield”). Doublet of week and wick.

cog

the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

(grammar) Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including:

(Germanic languages, of verbs) Regular in inflection, lacking vowel changes and having a past tense with -d- or -t-.

(Germanic languages, of nouns) Showing less distinct grammatical endings.

(Germanic languages, of adjectives) Definite in meaning, often used with a definite article or similar word.


reference

en-noun

reference (countable and uncountable, plural references)

From Middle French référence, from Medieval Latin referentia, nominative neuter plural of referēns, present participle of referō (“return, reply”, literally “carry back”). Morphologically refer + -ence.

verwysing

academic writing: identification of a source

(semantics) A relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object.