polysemic

en-adj

polysemic (comparative more polysemic, superlative most polysemic)

more polysemic (comparative)
most polysemic (superlative)

As a series of polysemic and paradoxical sketches, Jackass does not lend itself to one particular theoretical analysis.

2007, Sean Brayton, “MTV's Jackass: Transgression, Abjection and the Economy of White Masculinity”, in Journal of Gender Studies, volume 16, page 58:

(linguistics) Having a number of meanings, interpretations or understandings.


denotation

en-noun

denotation (countable and uncountable, plural denotations)

From Late Latin dēnotātiō, from Latin dēnotāre (“to denote, mark out”) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns of action), from dē- (“completely”) + notāre (“to mark”); equivalent to denote + -ation.

The denotations of the two expressions "the morning star" and "the evening star" are the same (i.e. both expressions denote the planet Venus), but their connotations are different.

Regarding denotation, the terms were generally used to refer to a wide range of language contact varieties and features.

2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 6:

(logic, linguistics, semiotics) The primary, surface, literal, or explicit meaning of a signifier such as a word, phrase, or symbol; that which a word denotes, as contrasted with its connotation; the aggregate or set of objects of which a word may be predicated.

(semantics) Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol


ablative

From Middle English ablative, ablatife, ablatyf, ablatif, from Old French ablatif (“the ablative case”), from Latin ablātīvus (“expressing removal”), from ablātus (“taken away”), from auferō (“I take away”). The engineering/nautical sense originates from ablate + -ive.

der

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(grammar) Applied to one of the cases of the noun in some languages, the fundamental meaning of the case being removal, separation, or taking away, and to a lesser degree, instrument, place, accordance, specifications, price, or measurement.

ablatibo

applied to one of the cases of the noun in other language

Where the heart is forestalled with misopinion, ablative directions are found needful to unteach error, ere we can learn truth.

1622, Joseph Hall, The Works of Joseph Hall: Sermons, page 123:

(archaic) Pertaining to taking away or removing.

The inner layer of warship protection consists of ablative armor plate designed to "boil away" when heated. The vaporized armor material scatters a DEW beam, rendering it ineffectual.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Weapons: Ablative Armor Codex entry:

(engineering, nautical, astronautics) Sacrificial, wearing away or being destroyed in order to protect the underlying material, as in ablative paints used for antifouling, or ablative heat shields used to protect spacecraft during reentry. .

(geology) Relating to the erosion of a land mass; relating to the melting or evaporation of a glacier.


connotation

/ˌkɑnəˈteɪʃən/

/ˌkɒnəˈteɪʃən/

Borrowed from Medieval Latin connotātiō, from connotō (“I mark in addition”), from Latin con- (“together, with”) + noto (“I note”); equivalent to connote + -ation.

The word "advisedly" has a connotation of "wisely", although it denotes merely "intentionally" and "deliberately."

The word "happy" has a positive connotation, while "sad" has a negative connotation.

(semantics) A meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the contexts that words and phrases are used in.


antonym

From French antonyme (1840s and 1850s), which was modeled on earlier synonyme and influenced by the etymons of Ancient Greek ἀντωνυμία (antōnumía, “pronoun”); credit for popularization of the French loanword's naturalization into English is given principally to Charles John Smith and his 1867 book Synonyms and Antonyms: Or, Kindred Words and Their Opposites. Collected and Contrasted. By surface analysis, ant- + -onym.

“Rich” is an antonym of “poor”; “full” is an antonym of “empty”.

(semantics) A word which has the opposite meaning of another word.

All four lines of the pattern are required to establish that hot and cold are antonyms.
The water is hot entails The water is not cold.
The water is cold entails The water is not hot.
The water is not hot does not entail The water is cold.
The water is not cold does not entail The water is hot.

2005, Andrew John Merrison, Aileen Bloomer, Patrick Griffiths, Christopher J. Hall, Introducing Language in Use, page 111:

gradable antonym
gradable antonym#English

A word that describes one end of a scale, while its opposite describes the other end, such as large versus small; a gradable antonym.


first name

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16.[…]Children address teachers by their first names. Even 15-year-olds do no more than 30 minutes' homework a night.

2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

Synonym of given name, particularly when it forms the first element of a full name.


thesaurus

en-noun

thesaurus (plural thesauri or thesauruses)

16th century, from Latin thēsaurus, from Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós, “storehouse, treasure”); its current English usage/meaning was established soon after the publication of Peter Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases in 1852. Doublet of treasure.

der

en:dictionary or encyclopedia, archaically


substantive

en-adj

substantive (comparative more substantive, superlative most substantive)

more substantive (comparative)
most substantive (superlative)

From Middle English substantif, from Old French substantif.

съществен

of the essence or essential element of a thing

(grammar) Of or pertaining to a substantive.


substantive

The Dutch verb beelden and substantive beelding signify form-giving, creation, and by extension image—as do gestalten and Gestaltung in German, where Neo-Plastic[ism] is translated as Die neue Gestaltung.

1986, Harry Holtzman, Martin S[amuel] James, “The New Plastic in Painting (1917)”, in The New Art—The New Life: The Collected Writings of Piet Mondrian, Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co., →ISBN, part I (The De Stijl Years: 1917–24), page 27:

noun substantive
noun substantive#English

substantive noun
substantive noun#English

(grammar) Clipping of noun substantive or substantive noun; a noun or a group of words (a noun phrase) that act as a noun (in a sentence).


substantive

en-verb

substantive (third-person singular simple present substantives, present participle substantiving, simple past and past participle substantived)

substantives (present singular third-person)
substantiving (participle present)
substantived (participle past)
substantived (past)

(grammar, very rare) To make a word belonging to another part of speech into a substantive (that is, a noun) or use it as a noun.


academicism

en-noun

academicism (countable and uncountable, plural academicisms)

(classical studies, sometimes capitalized) The doctrines of Plato's academy; specifically the skeptical doctrines of the later academy stating that nothing can be known; a tenet of the Academic philosophy; state of being Academic.


accidence

accidence (countable and uncountable, plural accidences)

* First attested in the late 14th century.
* (grammar): First attested in the mid 15th century.
* From Middle English accidence, accidens, from Latin accidentia (“accidental matters”), from accidēns, present participle of accidere (“to happen”)

To teach Schollars how to bee able to reade well, and write true Orthography, in a short space. 2. To make them ready in all points of Accedence and Grammar, to answere any necessary question therein.

1627, John Brinsley, Ludus Literarius; or, The Grammar Schoole, London: John Bellamie, page xiii:

1669, John Milton, Accedence Commenc’t Grammar (title of a Latin grammar)

1871, Review of An Elementary Greek Grammar by William W. Goodwin, North American Review, Volume 112, No. 231, 1 April, 1871, p. 427,
Our best schools send every year to college boys who know their accidence reasonably, and in some cases admirably well […]

"Room. Rooms. It same thing." Jalii was above accidence.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 607:

All major sectors of English grammar, including syntax and accidence, are put through their paces in a systematic way[.]

1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 103:


ablaut

ablaut (countable and uncountable, plural ablauts)

Borrowed from German Ablaut (“sound gradation”), which is from ab- or ab (“down, off”), + Laut (“sound”). Ab is used here in the sense of “deviating, varying” as in Abgott (“god other than the true God”), Abart (“different sort, variety, anomality”).

bor+

(phonology) The substitution of one root vowel for another, thus indicating a corresponding modification of use or meaning; vowel permutation, distinct from the phonetic influence of a succeeding vowel.


ablaut

en-verb

ablaut (third-person singular simple present ablauts, present participle ablauting, simple past and past participle ablauted)

ablauts (present singular third-person)
ablauting (participle present)
ablauted (participle past)
ablauted (past)

This root must once have ablauted, given the associated nominal derivatives prthii- 'broad', prthivl- 'earth'. However, it does not ablaut at all in its verbal forms.

1983, Stephanie W. Jamison, Function and Form in the -áya-formations of the Rig Veda and ..., page 209:

What we find is that one cannot predict which members of V a given member of E will cause to ablaut

1985, Michael E. Krauss, Yupik Eskimo prosodic systems: descriptive and comparative studies, page 241:

It is these co-opted verbs that tend to ablaut variably in the different Dakotan dialects and that forced morphological restructuring

2006, Felix K. Ameka, Alan Charles Dench, Nicholas Evans, Catching language: the standing challenge of grammar writing, page 536:

This allomorph also causes the back vowel to ablaut to a low vowel.

2012, Bernard Comrie, Zarina Estrada Fernández, Relative Clauses in Languages of the Americas: A Typological Overview, page 219:

(intransitive, linguistics, of a vowel-containing linguistic component) To undergo a change of vowel.

(transitive, linguistics) To cause to change a vowel.


ppl

(linguistics) Abbreviation of participle.


holophrastic

(linguistics, of a sentence) Consisting of a single word, such as "Go." or "Whatever."

(linguistics) Pertaining to the stage of language development where a child produces simple one-word utterances.


count noun

A noun which refers to something that can be counted. Examples: house, car, bush, point.

pangihap

noun used to refer to things that can be counted


false friend

zh-l

偽友／伪友 (wěiyǒu)

→ Chinese: 假朋友 (jiǎpéngyou), 假友 (jiǎyǒu), 偽友／伪友 (wěiyǒu) (calque)

Calque of French faux-ami, from the longer phrase faux amis du traducteur (“false friends of a translator”), first used by Maxime Kœssler and Jules Derocquigny in 1928 in their book Les Faux Amis ou les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (False Friends, or the Pitfalls of the English Vocabulary).

lang

A word and its false friend may well be etymologically related: in such cases semantic shifts have made them drift apart.

(linguistics, translation studies, lexicography) A word in a language that bears a deceptive resemblance to a word in another language but in fact has a different meaning.


hyponym

From hyp- + -onym or hypo- + -nym; from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma) ("appellation"), a Doric specific dialectal form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).

The words “dog”, “cat”, and “human” are hyponyms of “animal” because dogs, cats, and humans are types of animal.

Woman itself has as other hyponyms, sculptress and waitress, but is itself a hyponym of adult.

1977, Ruth Kempson, Semantic Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86:

(semantics) A more specific term; a subordinate grouping word or phrase; a term designating a subclass of another more general class described by the given word.


mass noun

paningob

noun describing something that cannot be counted


synonym

From Middle English sinonyme, from Latin synōnymum, from Ancient Greek συνώνυμον (sunṓnumon), neuter singular form of συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos, “synonymous”), from σύν (sún, “with”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”). By surface analysis, syn- + -onym.

(semantics, strictly) A word or term whose meaning is the same as that of another.

“Happy” is a synonym of “glad”.

The proportion of English words that have an exact synonym is small.

1991, William T. Parry, Edward A. Hacker, Aristotelian Logic:

(semantics, loosely) A word or phrase with a meaning that is the same as, or very similar to, another word or phrase.


portmanteau

Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking-Glass
portmanteau

First used by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass to describe the words he coined in “Jabberwocky”.

The overall narrator of this portmanteau story - for Dickens co-wrote it with five collaborators on his weekly periodical, All the Year Round - expresses deep, rational scepticism about the whole business of haunting.

2002 December 14, Nicholas Lezard, “Spooky tales by the master and friends”, in The Guardian (London), page 30:

We're so bombarded with images, it's a struggle to preserve our imaginations.' In response, he's turned to cinema, commissioning 11 film-makers to contribute to a portmanteau film, entitled '11'09"01' and composed of short films each running 11 minutes, nine seconds and one frame.

2002 December 11, Nick Bradshaw, “One day in September”, in Time Out, page 71:

(attributive, linguistics) Made by combining two (or more) words, stories, etc., in the manner of a linguistic portmanteau.


portmanteau

en-noun

portmanteau (plural portmanteaus or portmanteaux)

portmanteaus (plural)
portmanteaux (plural)

Well then, ‘mimsy’ is ‘flimsy and miserable’ (there’s another portmanteau for you).

1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Humpty Dumpty”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 128–129:


defining vocabulary

defining vocabulary (plural defining vocabularies)

(lexicography) A restricted set of words used to define all other terms in a dictionary.


adjectival

en-adj

adjectival (comparative more adjectival, superlative most adjectival)

more adjectival (comparative)
most adjectival (superlative)

/ˌæd͡ʒəˈtaɪ.vəl/

adjectival syntax

adjectival noun

(grammar) Of or relating to or functioning as an adjective.


cataphora

en-noun

cataphora (countable and uncountable, plural cataphoras)

From Ancient Greek καταφορά (kataphorá, “a downward motion”), from κατά (katá, “downwards”) + φέρω (phérō, “I carry”).

uder

(linguistics, rhetoric) The use of a pronoun, or other linguistic unit, before the noun phrase to which it refers, sometimes used for rhetorical effect.


abbreviation

en-noun

abbreviation (countable and uncountable, plural abbreviations)

abbreviation (canonical)
of (canonical)
abbreviations (plural)

First attested 1400–50. From Middle English abbreviacioun, from Middle French abreviation, from Ecclesiastical Latin abbreviātiō, from Latin ad + breviō (“shorten”), from brevis (“short”). By surface analysis, abbreviate + -ion.

Hants is an abbreviation of Hampshire.

(linguistics) A shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase used to represent the whole, using omission of letters, and sometimes substitution of letters, or duplication of initial letters to signify plurality, including signs such as +, =, @.

อักษรย่อ

àk-sɔ̌ɔn-yɔ̂ɔ


semantics

semantics (countable and uncountable, plural semantics)

From French sémantique, displacing earlier semasiology. From Ancient Greek σημαντικός (sēmantikós). By surface analysis, semantic + -ics.

Semantics is a foundation of lexicography.

(linguistics) A branch of linguistics studying the meaning of words.


portmanteau word

portmanteau word (plural portmanteau words)

First used by Lewis Carroll in 1871, based on the concept of two words packed together, like a portmanteau (“a travelling case having two halves joined by a hinge”).

Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy.’ ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘active.’ You see it’s like a portmanteau⸺there are two meanings packed up into one word.

[1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Humpty Dumpty”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 126–127:

He found the blend "tomax" in "a collection of gratulatory verses presented by the President and Fellows of Harvard College 1 to the new King, George III," dated 1761. A note by the owner of the volume explains the word as a combination of tomahawk and axe: "It is a portmanteau word, which must have been as clear to the average reader in England of 1761 — as clear to George III himself - as brillig and slithy would have been to us, had not Humpty Dumpty kindly explained them."

1938, Joane Chaffe Miller, Conversion and Fusion in Modern English: A Concise History of the Scholarly Recognition of These Linguistic Processes:

1. Portmanteau Words and Allomorphy - This paper is primarily concerned with the theoretical implications of what have been called portmanteau words (Hockett, 1947)

1985, Carlos Piera of Cornell University, “On the Representation of Higher Order Complex Words”, in Selected Papers from the XIIIth Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, Chapel Hill, N.C., 24-26 March 1983, page 287:

One reason for the popularity of portmanteau words in naming language hybrids may be the fact that the names themselves embody a type of hybridity.

2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 10:

(linguistics) A word which combines the meaning of two words (or, rarely, more than two words), formed by combining the words, usually, but not always, by adjoining the first part of one word and the last part of the other, the adjoining parts often having a common vowel.

สมาส

of compounds of Pali and Sanskrit loanwords


proper noun

(grammar) A word or phrase that is a noun denoting a particular person, place, organization, ship, animal, event, or other individual entity.

emër i përveçëm

the name of a particular person, place, organization, or other individual entity

የተፀውኦ ስም

yätäṣ́äwʾo səm


mondegreen

Coined by American journalist and editor Sylvia Wright in 1954 in Harper's Magazine from mishearing a line in the Scottish ballad The Bonnie Earl o' Moray: “They have slain the Earl o' Moray, / And laid him on the green”, the second line being misheard as, “And Lady Mondegreen”.

coin

Our report of a relative who, as a child, thought the classic version of the Lord's Prayer began "Our father, a chart in heaven, Harold be thy name" stated that this type of mistake is known as an eggcorn. A number of readers have suggested that instances like this in which a whole phrase rather than just a word is misheard, should be called mondegreens rather than eggcorns.

2006 November 18, “Feedback”, in New Scientist, archived from the original on 2016-05-24, page 218:

The title lyric ["Bei Mir Bistu Shein"], the only part of the original Yiddish preserved by Cahn, was a mondegreen waiting to happen—“My Mere Bits of Shame” and “My Beer, Mr. Shane” were among the earliest recorded mishearings—but the language barrier didn't […]

2012, Gary Rosen, Unfair to Genius: The Strange and Litigious Career of Ira B. Arnstein, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

(linguistics) A form of (possibly intentional) error arising from mishearing a spoken or sung phrase, possibly in a different language.


etymology

en-noun

etymology (countable and uncountable, plural etymologies)

/ˌɛtɪˈmɒləd͡ʒi/

/ˌɛtəˈmɒləd͡ʒi/

[ˌɛɾəˈmɒləd͡ʒi]

/ˌɛtəˈmɑləd͡ʒi/

[ˌɛɾəˈmɑləd͡ʒi]

[ˌeɾəˈmɔləd͡ʒi]

[ˌeʈɪˈmɔləd͡ʒi]

From Middle English ethymologie, from Old French ethimologie, from Latin etymologia, from Ancient Greek ἐτυμολογία (etumología), from ἔτυμον (étumon, “true sense”) and -λογία (-logía, “study or logic of”), from λόγος (lógos, “word; explanation”).

etimologie

study of the historical development of languages, particularly of individual words

(uncountable, linguistics) The scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes.

I'm sure you know the etymology of your name, Goodspeed.

(countable) The direct origin of a name, as in who someone was named after.


achievement

achievement (countable and uncountable, plural achievements)

From Middle French achevement (compare Modern French achèvement), from Old French achevement, from the verb achever, achiever (“to finish”); equivalent to achieve + -ment. The heraldic sense may be influenced by hatchment.

[…]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:

(grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change in an instant.


parole

parole (usually uncountable, plural paroles)

[p(ʰ)ə.ˈɹəʊɫ]

[pʰə.ˈɹʷoʊɫ]

Borrowed from Middle French parole (“word, formal promise”), from Old French parole, from Late Latin parabola (“speech”), from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ). Doublet of parabola, parable, and palaver.

doublet

(linguistics) Language in use, as opposed to language as a system.


crude

en-adj

crude (comparative cruder, superlative crudest)

cruder (comparative)
crudest (superlative)

refined

antonym(s) of “being in a natural state”

From Middle English crude, borrowed from Latin crūdus (“raw, bloody, uncooked, undigested, crude”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“raw meat, fresh blood”). Cognate with Old English hrēaw (“raw, uncooked”). More at raw.

der

(grammar) Pertaining to the uninflected stem of a word.


uncountable

Many languages do not distinguish countable nouns from uncountable nouns.

One meaning in law of the usually uncountable noun "information" is used in the plural and is countable.

(grammar, of a noun) That cannot be used freely with numbers or the indefinite article, and therefore usually takes no plural form. Example: information.

անհաշվելի

linguistics: about a noun which cannot be counted


uncountable

But inherent uncountables such as 'stuffs' can be conceptualized in two different ways, depending on whether they are viewed in terms of quantity or in terms of quality.

1988, Anna Wierzbicka, The Semantics of Grammar, page 440:


seme

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma).

lbor

(linguistics, semiotics) Anything which serves for any purpose as a substitute for an object of which it is, in some sense, a representation, sign, or symbol.


transitive verb

en-noun

transitive verb (plural transitive verbs)

(grammar) A verb that is accompanied (either clearly or implicitly) by a direct object in the active voice. It links the action taken by the subject with the object upon which that action is taken. Consequently, transitive verbs can also be used in the passive voice when the direct object of the equivalent active-voice sentence becomes the subject.

فِعْل مُتَعَدٍّ

a verb that is accompanied by a direct object


morpheme

From French morphème, equivalent to morph + -eme. Ultimately from Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “shape, form”).

der

(linguistic morphology) The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry a meaning. It may be a letter, a syllable, or otherwise.


dialect

From Middle French dialecte, from Latin dialectos, dialectus, from Ancient Greek διάλεκτος (diálektos, “conversation, the language of a country or a place or a nation, the local idiom which derives from a dominant language”), from διαλέγομαι (dialégomai, “I participate in a dialogue”), from διά (diá, “inter, through”) + λέγω (légō, “I speak”).

The question could be put: 'Is there anything inherent in a dialect which gives it a negative stigma or is it that the status of the majority of the speakers is transferred to the dialect?' — something that occurs in many regions in different countries.

1995, Michael [G.] Clyne, The German language in a changing Europe, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 117:

Bloomfield, for example, noted that “local dialects are spoken by the peasants and the poorest people of the towns” (1933: 50) though he also thought that the lower middle class spoke 'sub-standard' speech.

2010, Mirjam Fried, Jan-Ola Östman, Jef Verschueren, editors, Variation and Change: Pragmatic perspectives (Handbook of Pragmatics Highlights; 6), John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, Dialect, by Ronald Macaulay, page 61:

Among common errors still persisting in the minds of educated people, one error which dies very hard is the theory that a dialect is an arbitrary distortion of the mother tongue, a wilful mispronunciation of the sounds, and disregard of the syntax of a standard language.

2014, Elizabeth Mary Wright (died 1958), Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore:

(linguistics, strict sense) A lect (often a regional or minority language) as part of a group or family of languages, especially if they are viewed as a single language, or if contrasted with a standardized idiom that is considered the 'true' form of the language (for example, Bavarian as contrasted with Standard German).

And in addition, many dialects of English make no morphological distinction between Adjectives and Adverbs, and thus use Adjectives in contexts where the standard language requires -ly Adverbs

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar: A First Course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 139:

(linguistics, broad sense) A variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular area, community, or social group, differing from other varieties of the same language in relatively minor ways as regards grammar, phonology, and lexicon.

(colloquial, offensive) A language existing only in an oral or non-standardized form, especially a language spoken in a developing country or an isolated region.


langue

Borrowed from French langue. Doublet of lingua and tongue.

(linguistics) Language as a system rather than language in use, including the formal rules, structures, and limitations of language.


transitive

From Latin trānsitīvus, from trānsitus, from trāns (“across”) + itus, from eō (“to go”).

The English verb "to notice" is a transitive verb, because we say things like "She noticed a problem".

Men have tried to turn "revolutionise" from a transitive to an intransitive verb.

(grammar, of a verb) Taking a direct object or objects.

kalimtar

grammar, of a verb: taking an object or objects


transitive

This means that subcategorization properties do not allow us to distinguish between transitives and intransitives (both types of verbs are allowed, but not obliged, to take a direct object).

2011, Carmen Dobrovie-Sorin, The Syntax of Romanian: Comparative Studies in Romance, page 136:


definition

en-noun

definition (countable and uncountable, plural definitions)

From Middle English diffinicioun, from Middle French definition, from Latin dēfīnītiō, from dēfīniō. Equivalent to define + -ition.

Your definition of "elephant" needs to be more precise than "a big animal with large ears".

DEFINITIONS mean nothing unless the concept in the mind of the men who makes the definition is the same as that in the mind of the man who hears it.

1925, Thomas R. Marshall, Recollections of Thomas R. Marshall, Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, →OL, page 65:

(semantics, lexicography) A statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol (dictionary definitions).


dictionary

/ˈdɪkʃənəɹi/

/ˈdɪkʃəˌnɛɹi/

From Middle English dixionare, learned borrowing from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium, from Latin dictiōnārius, from dictiō (“a speaking”), from dictus, perfect past participle of dīcō (“to speak”) + -ārium (“room, place”). By surface analysis, diction + -ary.

Coordinate term: thesaurus

If you want to know the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary.

But what other kind(s) of syntactic information should be included in Lexical Entries? Traditional dictionaries such as Hornby's (1974) Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English include not only categorial information in their entries, but also information about the range of Complements which a given item permits (this information is represented by the use of a number/letter code).

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 339:

A reference work with a list of words from one or more languages, normally ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meanings (senses), and sometimes also containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, semantic relations, and translations, as well as other data.

ажвар

publication that explains the meanings of an ordered list of words

vödasbuk (older term, now obsolete; compare Wörterbuch)

Look it up in the dictionary, and what do you find?

1930, Norman Lindsay, chapter 6, in Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, section I, page 106:

By 1986 the name Walkman was included as a word in the English dictionary.

2019, John Hughes, Life Pre-Intermediate Student's Book, National Geographic Learning, page 188:

(preceded by the) A synchronic dictionary of a standardised language held to only contain words that are properly part of the language.

(by extension) Any work that has a list of material organized alphabetically; e.g., biographical dictionary, encyclopedic dictionary.

User calls RouteCollection.GetVirtualPath, passing in a RequestContext, a dictionary of values, and an optional route name used to select the correct route to generate the URL.

2011, Jon Galloway, Phil Haack, Brad Wilson, Professional ASP.NET MVC 3:

(computing) An associative array, a data structure where each value is referenced by a particular key, analogous to words and definitions in a dictionary (sense 1).


lexicographer

/ˌlɛksɪˈkɒɡɹəfə(ɹ)/

From French lexicographe + -er, from Ancient Greek λεξικός (lexikós, “of words”) + γράφω (gráphō, “write”). By surface analysis, lexico- + -grapher.

der

Lexico′grapher. […] A writer of dictionaries; a harmleſs drudge, that buſies himſelf in tracing the original, and detailing the ſignification of words.

[1755 April 15, Samuel Johnson, “Lexico′grapher”, in A Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume II (L–Z), London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton; […], →OCLC, column 1:

Pitt has furnish'd us a word or two / Which lexicographers declined to do.

1811, George Gordon Byron, Hints from Horace:

The best lexicographer may well be content if his productions are received by the world with cold esteem.

1860, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Biographies contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica:

One who writes or compiles a dictionary.


lexicography

en-noun

lexicography (countable and uncountable, plural lexicographies)

/ˌlɛksɪˈkɒɡɹəfi/

/ˌlɛksɪˈkɑɡɹəfi/

From lexico- (prefix meaning ‘speech; words’) + -graphy (suffix meaning ‘something written about a specified subject’).

confix

But changes of this nature belong to lexicography, as they do not affect the grammatical forms of words.

1828, Moses Stuart, “Changes of Consonants”, in A Grammar of the Hebrew Language, 3rd edition, Andover, Mass.: Flagg & Gould, →OCLC, part II (Changes and Peculiarities of Consonants and Verbs), § 105, page 51:

What the history of language in general teaches, that in course of time, there is less change in form than signification, in grammar than lexicography, is true of the Greek.

1840, Geo. Benedict Winer [i.e., Georg Benedikt Winer], “§ 4. Grammatical Character of the N.T. Diction.”, in J. H Agnew, O. G. Ebbeke, transl., A Grammar of the Idioms of the Greek Language of the New Testament, Philadelphia, Pa.: Herman Hooker, […], →OCLC, part I, page 37:

If Lexicography in general is that science whose task it is to set forth the nature of every single word of a language through all the periods of its existence, it is the task of Latin lexicography in particular to set forth the nature of every single word of the Latin language, as it makes itself known in all the periods of the existence of that language; or more succinctly expressed, it is the object of Latin lexicography to give the history of every single word of the Latin language.

1845 February, Wilhelm Freund, “Article IV. Principles of Latin Lexicography.”, in T[heodore] D[wight] Woolsey, transl., edited by B[ela] B[ates] Edwards and E[dwards] A[masa] Park, Bibliotheca Sacra and Theological Review, volume II, number V, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam; Andover, Mass.: Allen, Morrill and Wardwell, →OCLC, section I (Of the Idea and Elements of Latin Lexicography), § 1, page 80:

[T]he philologist may well refuse to accept a body of triliteral roots, developed on a highly artificial and uniform plan, as the ultimate fact in Semitic lexicography.

1911 December 13, C. J. Ball, “A Study in Biblical Philology”, in Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, volume XXXIII, number CCXLIX, London: Society of Biblical Archaeology, →OCLC, page 13:

Academic lexicography, or 'metalexicography', as pursued in university departments of English or Linguistics, is concerned not primarily with the compiling of dictionaries – though academics may be involved in this, as consultants, for example – but with researching and teaching about the whole business of making dictionaries: their history, their typology, their structures, their users, and so on [...].

2002, Howard Jackson, “Criticising Dictionaries”, in Lexicography: An Introduction, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 173:

(uncountable, linguistics) The scholarly discipline of analysing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships within the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language and developing theories of dictionary components and structures linking the data in dictionaries.

лексикогра́фия

scholarly discipline of analyzing and describing lexical relationships and developing dictionary structures


verb

From Middle English verbe, directly from Latin verbum (“word, verb”), reinforced by Old French verbe, from Proto-Indo-European *werdʰo-. Doublet of verve and word.

The word “speak” is an English verb.

In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation / I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes[…]

1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] , London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:

(grammar) A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.

werkwoord

(grammar) a word that indicates an action, event, or a state


verb

en-verb

verb (third-person singular simple present verbs, present participle verbing, simple past and past participle verbed)

verbs (present singular third-person)
verbing (participle present)
verbed (participle past)
verbed (past)
verb (infinitive)

For example, one-part versions of the proposition "The doctor pursued the lawyer" were "The doctor verbed the object," ...

1946, Rand Corporation, The Rand Paper Series:

Each sentence had the same basic structure: The subject transitive verbed the object who intransitive verbed in the location.

1964, Journal of Mathematical Psychology:

The sentence frame was Dan verbed Ben approaching the store. This sentence frame was followed in all cases by He went inside.

1998, Marilyn A. Walker, Aravind Krishna Joshi, Centering Theory in Discourse:

(used as a neutral, unspecific verb, often in linguistics and the social sciences) To perform any action that is normally expressed by a verb.

unspecific verb; often in linguistics and the social sciences; unspecific verb; often in linguistics and the social sciences


acronym

Borrowed from German Akronym, from Ancient Greek ἄκρον (ákron, “end, peak”) and ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”), equivalent to acro- (“high; beginning”) + -onym (“name”). Modelled after Homonym and Synonym, first attested in German in the early 1900s and in English in 1940.

اِخْتِصَار

any abbreviation formed by initial letters

Pee-gee-enn. It's an acronym, that's what it is. That's what they call words made up of initials.

1940, L. Feuchtwanger, translated by W. Muir et al., Paris Gazette, iii, xlvii, p. 518:

(linguistics) An abbreviation formed by the initial letters of other words.

Generally such abbreviations, including those pronounced as individual letters (initialisms such as "TNT").

Some teachers festoon every spare inch of wall with vocabulary choices or maths techniques to use, which look great at first, but to some children might appear quite daunting. You'll probably see unfamiliar acronyms such as Walt (We Are Learning To). Be sure to ask what they stand for and how they are used in practice.

2014 September 23, “Choosing a Primary School: A Teacher's Guide for Parents”, in The Guardian:

Exclusively such abbreviations when pronounced as a word (as "laser").

Acronyms or telescoped names like nabisco from National Biscuit Company.

1950, Simeon Potter, Our Language, page 163:

(linguistics) An abbreviation formed by the beginning letters or syllables of other words (as "Benelux").


adjective

From Middle English adjectif, adjective, from Old French adjectif, from Latin adiectivus, from adiciō + -īvus, from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + iaciō (“throw”). The Latin word adiectivus in turn was a calque of Ancient Greek ἐπιθετικόν (epithetikón, “added”), a derivative of the compound verb ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi), from which also comes epithet.

noncog

The words “big” and “heavy” are English adjectives.

"They'll have to invent new adjectives when I come back. You wait!"

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 8:

(grammar) A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent.

byvoeglike naamwoord

(grammar) a word that modifies a noun or describes a noun’s referent

形容詞 (けいようし, keiyōshi) (for "い" ending in Japanese, and translation for "adjective" in other languages)


adjective

(grammar) Adjectival; pertaining to or functioning as an adjective.


numeral

As an adjective, from Middle English numeral, numerall, from Latin numerālis (“pertaining to a number”), from numerus (“a number”).
As a noun, via Middle French numeral.

der

We use the term numeral for linguistic expressions and number for meanings. For example, five is a numeral expressing the number "5" - and fifteen hundred and one thousand five hundred are different numerals expressing the same number, "1,500".

2002, Laurie Bauer, Rodney Huddleston, “Lexical word-formation”, in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 1715:

(linguistics) A number word, a simple or compound word for a number often having particular grammatical attributes depending on the language.

numër

word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral


noun

From Middle English noun, from Anglo-Norman noun, non, nom, from Latin nōmen (“name; noun”). The grammatical sense in Latin was a semantic loan from Koine Greek ὄνομα (ónoma). Doublet of name and nomen.

(grammar, strictly) A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea: one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English.

Q. What is a Noun? A. The Name of a Thing. Q. How many Sorts of Nouns are there? [...] A. A Noun Substantive, and a Noun Adjective.

1753, Thomas Martin, An Explanation of the Accidence and Grammar To the End of the Syntax in which The Grounds of each Rule in the Syntax are laid down in the plainest Manner. Compiled By way of Question and Answer, For the Use of Schools., London, page 1:

A Noun is a word which serves to name and distinguish some thing; [...]. There are two sorts of nouns; one is called a noun substantive, and the other a noun adjective.

1786, Signor Veneroni, The Complete Italian Master; Containing The best and easiest Rules for attaining that Language, London, page 6:

The first part of a compound word is either a noun (substantive, adjective, or numeral), an adverb, or a preposition, and in a very few cases a verb.

1852, Leonhard Schmitz, Elementary Latin grammar, Edinburgh, page 123:

Finally, there are many who limit the parts of speech to the noun, the verb, and the particle; referring to the first, the substantive, the adjective, and the pronoun (including the article), to the second the participle, to the third the remainder.

1856, R. G. Latham, Logic in its application to language, London, page 224:

Greek has the following parts of speech: substantives, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and particles. In this Grammar noun is used to include both the substantive and the adjective.

1956, Herbert Weir Smyth, Gordon M. Messing, “189. Parts of Speech”, in Greek Grammar, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, page 44:

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

1894, B. L. Gildersleeve, G. Lodge, Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar, Dover, published 2008, page 9:

The parts of which the sentence may consist are either inflected words: the noun (substantive and adjective) and the verb, the participle which shares the nature of both, and the pronoun; or uninflected words: prepositions, adverbs, and conjunctions.

1993, Arthur Anthony Macdonell, A Vedic Grammar For Students, 1st Indian edition, Delhi, page 283:

(grammar, now rare, loosely) Either a word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality or idea, or a word that modifies or describes a previous word or its referent; a substantive or adjective, sometimes also including other parts of speech such as numeral or pronoun.


acacia

(history, classical studies) A roll or bag, filled with dust, borne by Byzantine emperors, as a memento of mortality. It is represented on medals.


conjunction

en-noun

conjunction (countable and uncountable, plural conjunctions)

/kənˈd͡ʒʌŋk.ʃən/

From Old French conjonction, from Latin coniūnctiō (“joining”), from coniungere (“to join”).

A comma is placed between short members of compound sentences, connected by and, but, for, nor, or, because, whereas, that expressing purpose (so that, in order that), and other conjunctions.

1881, Alfred Ayres [pseudonym; Thomas Embly Osmun], The Verbalist:

(grammar) A word used to join other words or phrases together into sentences. The specific conjunction used shows how the two joined parts are related.

lidhëz

grammar: word used to join words or phrases


accommodation

accommodation (countable and uncountable, plural accommodations)

/əˌkɔm.əˈdæɪ.ʃən/

From French accommodation, from Latin accommodātiō (“adjustment, accommodation, compliance”), from accommodō (“adapt, put in order”). Superficially accommodate + -ion. The sense of "lodging" was first attested in 1600.

der

Pilots […] use the word fuselage whereas laypeople would more likely call the same "thing" the body of an aircraft. […] We have said above that speakers often signal that they belong to a certain group by making their language more similar to that of the other group members […] we thus adapt our language, dialect, accent, style and/or register to that of our addressee or addressees. This process is called speech accommodation. Among the reasons for accommodation may be our desire to identify more closely with the addressee(s), […]

2017 February 13, Annette Becker, Markus Bieswanger, Introduction to English Linguistics, UTB, →ISBN, page 178:

(linguistics, sociolinguistics) Modification(s) to make one's way of communicating similar to others involved in a conversation or discourse.


pseudonym

Back-formation from pseudonymous, from French pseudonyme (“pseudonymous”, adjective), from Ancient Greek ψευδώνυμος (pseudṓnumos), from ψευδής (pseudḗs, “false”) and ὄνυμα (ónuma), a dialectal form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”). By surface analysis, pseudo- + -onym.

The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

I doubt, indeed, whether I should not abandon the struggle altogether—leave this sad world of ordinary life for which I am so ill fitted, abandon the name of Cummins for some professional pseudonym, complete my self-effacement, and—a thing of tricks and tatters, of posing and pretence—go upon the stage.

c. 1911, H. G. Wells, The Obliterated Man:

The best example of its literary use so far are the German novel The Golem, by Gustav Meyrink, and the drama The Dybbuk, by the jewish writer using the pseudonym "Ansky".

1928, H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature:

A fictitious name (more literally, a false name), as those used by writers and movie stars.

allonym

another person's actual name adopted as a pseudonym


AA

(linguistics) Initialism of Afro-Asiatic.

(linguistics) Initialism of Austroasiatic.


government

en-noun

government (countable and uncountable, plural governments)

From Middle English governement, from Old French governement (modern French gouvernement), from governer (see govern) + -ment.
Morphologically govern + -ment
Displaced native Old English gerec, leodweard, ræden, rǣding and Old English ealdordōm.

government-owned and controlled corporation

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class V § 737a. Government

(grammar, linguistics) The relationship between a word and its dependents.

rectie

grammar: relationship between a word and its dependents


plural

en-adj

plural (comparative more plural, superlative most plural)

more plural (comparative)
most plural (superlative)

From Middle English plurelle, from Old French plurel (“plural”), Borrowed from Latin plūrālis (“of or belonging to more than one, belonging to many”, adjective), from plūs, plūris (“more”) + -ālis.

bor+

English nouns usually have singular and plural forms.

(grammar) In systems of number, not singular or not singular or dual.


plural

"There are three numbers; the singular, the dual, and the plural. [...] The dual is sometimes used to denote two objects, but even here the plural is more common."

1895, William W. Goodwin, A Greek Grammar. Revised and enlarged., page 34:

(grammar, uncountable) The plural number. In English, referring to more or less than one of something.

The plural of 'cat' is 'cats', but the plural of 'child' is 'children'.

(grammar, countable) A word in the form in which it potentially refers to something other than one person or thing; and other than two things if the language has a dual form.


adverb

From French adverbe, from Latin adverbium, from ad- (“to”) + verbum (“word, verb”), so called because it is used to supplement other words. By surface analysis, ad- + verb.

‘Fortunately your papa appreciates it; he appreciates it immensely’—that was one of the things Miss Overmore also said, with a striking insistence on the adverb.

(modifying a verb) I often went outside hiking during my stay in Japan.

(modifying an adjective) It was often cold outside.

(modifying another adverb) Not often.

(grammar) A word that modifies a verb, adjective, other adverbs, or various other types of words, phrases, or clauses.


f

Abbreviations.
f
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of for.
# (stenoscript) prefix for-.
# (stenoscript) suffix/sequence for(e).

ng

prefix <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">for-</i>.

Alternative form: f.


stock

en-noun

stock (countable and uncountable, plural stocks or (obsolete) stocken)

stocks (plural)
stocken (obsolete plural)

→ Dutch: stock

desctree

→ French: stock
→ Romanian: stoc
→ Turkish: stok

→ Italian: stock

→ Portuguese: estoque

→ Spanish: stock

From Middle English stok, from Old English stocc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“tree-trunk”), with modern senses mostly referring either to the trunk from which the tree grows (figuratively, its origin and/or support/foundation), or to a piece of wood, stick, or rod. The senses of "supply" and "raw material" arose from a probable conflation with steck (“an item of goods, merchandise”) or the use of split tally sticks consisting of foil or counterfoil and stock to capture paid taxes, debts or exchanges. Doublet of chock.

stark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)

The trunk and woody main stems of a tree. The base from which something grows or branches.

(by extension) Lineage, family, ancestry.

(linguistics) A larger grouping of language families: a superfamily or macrofamily.


feature

→ German: Feature

→ Ukrainian: фі́ча (fíča)

From Middle English feture, from Anglo-Norman feture, from Old French faiture, from Latin factūra, from Latin factus, from Latin faciō (“do, make”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”). Doublet of facture.

feature

long, prominent article or item in the media

(linguistics) The elements into which linguistic units can be broken down.


word

en-noun

word (countable and uncountable, plural words)

desc

Chinese Pidgin English: word, 𭉉 (Chinese spelling)

From Middle English word, from Old English word, from Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurdą, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥dʰh₁om. Doublet of verb and verve; further related to vrata.

you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone

Then all was silent save the voice of the high priest, whose words grew louder and louder, […]

1894, Alex. R. Mackwen, “The Samaritan Passover”, in Littell's Living Age, volume 1, number 6:

Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

I can't believe you want me back.
You've got Jen to thank for that. Her words the other day moved me deeply. Very deeply indeed.
Really? What did she say.
Like I remember! Point is it's the effect of her words that's important.

2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4

(semantics) The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.)

The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes

Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

The name was a confused gift of love from her father, who could not read the word but picked it out of the Bible for its visual shape, […]

2003, Jan Furman, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: A Casebook, →ISBN, page 194:

Well-meaning academics even introduced spelling absurdities such as the “s” in the word “island,” a misguided Renaissance attempt to restore the etymology of the [unrelated] Latin word insula.

2009, Stanislas Dehaene, Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read, →ISBN:

The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes

“Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t a word?”

1896, Israel Zangwill, Without Prejudice, page 21:

Fisherwoman isn’t even a word. It’s not in the dictionary.

1999, Linda Greenlaw, The Hungry Ocean, Hyperion, page 11:

A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by an authority or native speaker (compare non-word).

But every word, whether written or spoken, which urges the woman to antagonism against the man, every word which is written or spoken to try and make of her a hybrid, self-contained opponent of men, makes a rift in the lute to which the world looks for its sweetest music.

1897, Ouida, “The New Woman”, in An Altruist and Four Essays, page 239:

The word, whether written or spoken, does not look like or sound like its meaning — it does not resemble its signified. We only connect the two because we have learnt the code — language. Without such knowledge, 'Maggie' would just be a meaningless pattern of shapes or sounds.

1986, David Barrat, Media Sociology, →ISBN, page 112:

Brian and Abby signed the word clothing, in which the thumbs brush down the chest as though something is hanging there. They both spoke the word clothing. Brian then signed the word for change, […]

2009, Jack Fitzgerald, Viva La Evolucin, →ISBN, page 233:

Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.

2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:


translation

en-noun

translation (countable and uncountable, plural translations)

From Middle English translacioun (“transfer, translation”), from Anglo-Norman translacioun, from Latin trānslātiō, from trānslāt-, the supine stem of trānsferō (“to transfer, transport, transform, translate”). Displaced native Old English wending.

inh

(countable, uncountable) The act of translating, in its various senses:

(translation studies) The discipline or study of translating written language (as opposed to interpretation, which concerns itself with spoken language).


affix

Borrowed from Latin affixus, perfect passive participle of affigere (from ad- + figere), equivalent to ad- + fix.

affiks

linguistics: a bound morpheme added to a word’s stem

(linguistic morphology) A bound morpheme added to the word’s stem's end.

(linguistic morphology, broadly) A bound morpheme added to a word’s stem; a prefix, suffix, etc.


academy

From French académie, from Latin acadēmīa, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner of that estate, the Attic hero Akademos. Doublet of academia and Akademeia; compare academe.

(classical studies, usually capitalized) The garden where Plato taught.

(classical studies, usually capitalized) Plato's philosophical system based on skepticism; Plato's followers.


Romania

From Latin Rōmānia, from Byzantine Greek Ῥωμανία (Rhōmanía), itself from Latin rōmānus.

(academic, historical, linguistics) The Latin or Romance-speaking areas of Europe, collectively.


gismu

When two gismu are adjacent, the first one modifies the second, and the selbri takes its place structure from the rightmost word.

1997, John W. Cowan, The Complete Lojban Language, →ISBN:

There are over 1,300 root gismu in the Lojban vocabulary, and these structures form a very interesting ontology of their own.

2005, Brian D. Eubanks, Wicked Cool Java:

The main type of word used as a selbri is a gismu, or root-word.
Each gismu is exactly five letters long, and has one of two consonant-vowel patterns:CVCCV or CCVCV (e.g. rafsi or bridi). The gismu are built so as to minimize listening errors in a noisy environment. A gismu has at least two combining forms, known as rafsi. One is the gismu itself; one is the gismu with the final vowel deleted. Certain gismu have additional, shorter rafsi assigned. Up to three of these shorter rafsi may be assigned to a gismu, depending on frequency of usage of the gismu in building complex concepts and on availability of these shorter rafsi. Short rafsi use only certain combinations of letters from the gismu, and are of the forms CCV, CVC, CVV or CV'V.

2008, Robin Turner, Nick Nicholas, Lojban for Beginners:

(Lojban grammar) A brivla that is a basic Lojban root, rather than being derived through compounding or borrowing.


singular

en-adj

singular (comparative more singular, superlative most singular)

more singular (comparative)
most singular (superlative)

From Middle English singuler, from Old French, from Latin singulāris (“alone of its kind”), from Latin singulus (“single”).

(grammar) Referring to only one thing or person.


singular

(grammar) A form of a word that refers to only one person or thing.

njëjës

grammar: form of a word that refers to only one thing


paralipsis

en-noun

paralipsis (countable and uncountable, plural paraleipses)

From Ancient Greek παράλειψις (paráleipsis, “omission”), from παραλείπω (paraleípō, “I pass over”), from παρά (pará, “by, near”) + λείπω (leípō, “I leave”).

der

These negatives are a paraleipsis: what cannot be done to the soul can be done to the body.

Oxenberg tells us twice that she does not talk about the sister who died. She fools no one with this paralipsis […].

2008, Alisa Lebow, First Person Jewish, page 60:

What's left to consider? I am loath to bring up Trump's paralipsis.

(rhetoric, linguistics) A figure of speech in which one pretends to ignore or omit something by actually mentioning it.


absolute

en-adj

absolute (comparative more absolute or absoluter, superlative most absolute or absolutest)

more absolute (comparative)
absoluter (comparative)
most absolute (superlative)
absolutest (superlative)

conditional

antonym(s) of “free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions”

antonym(s) of “independent of references

First attested around 1380. From Middle English absolut, from Middle French absolut, from Latin absolūtus (“unconditional; unfettered; completed”), perfect passive participle of absolvō (“loosen, set free, complete”), from ab (“away”) + solvo (“to loose”). Influenced in part by Old French absolu. Compare absolve.

независим

grammar: not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence

categorical

(grammar) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence; not in a syntactical relation with other parts of a text, or qualifying the text as a whole rather than any single word in it, like "it being over" in "it being over, she left".

(of a case form) Syntactically connected to the rest of the sentence in an atypical manner, or not relating to or depending on it, like in the nominative absolute or genitive absolute, accusative absolute or ablative absolute.

(of an adjective or possessive pronoun) Lacking a modified substantive, like "hungry" in "feed the hungry".

(of a comparative or superlative) Expressing a relative term without a definite comparison, like "older" in "an older person should be treated with respect".

Even when the absolute form of an adverb ends in -ly, the comparative and superlative are identical with the corresponding forms of the adjective: badly, worse, worst.

(of an adjective form) Positive; not graded (not comparative or superlative).

(of a usually transitive verb) Having no direct object, like "kill" in "if looks could kill".

(of Celtic languages) Being or pertaining to an inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of particles or compounded with a preverb.


accusative

en-adj

accusative (comparative more accusative, superlative most accusative)

more accusative (comparative)
most accusative (superlative)

First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus (“having been blamed”), from accūsō (“to blame”). Equivalent to accuse + -ative. The Latin form is a mistranslation of the Ancient Greek grammatical term αἰτιᾱτική (aitiātikḗ, “expressing an effect”). This term actually comes from αἰτιᾱτός (aitiātós, “caused”) + -ῐκός (-ikós, adjective suffix), but was reanalyzed as coming from αἰτιᾱ- (aitiā-), the stem of the verb αἰτιάομαι (aitiáomai, “to blame”), + -τῐκός (-tikós, verbal adjective suffix).

affix

(grammar) Applied to the case (as the fourth case of Latin, Lithuanian and Greek nouns) which expresses the immediate object on which the action or influence of a transitive verb has its limited influence. Other parts of speech, including secondary or predicate direct objects, will also influence a sentence’s construction. In German the case used for direct objects.


accusative

65 mošu tat̰ ās nōit̮ darəγəm yat̰ . . ‘quickly it (tat̰) happened, it (was) not long till . . . — drūm avantəm airištəm: according to Bartholomae IF. 12. 146 the author of this part was led to use accusatives here (instead of nominatives) by the preceding sentence yezi ǰum frapayeni.

1911, Hans Reichelt, Avesta Reader: Texts, Notes, Glossary and Index, Strassburg [Strasbourg]: Verlag von Karl J. Trübner, page 105:

There is some antecedent in old Latin; but as usual the influence is Greek too, for Greek prose and poetry freely use accusatives which are to some extent adverbial accusatives, or accusatives of respect.

1944, W[illiam] F[rancis] Jackson Knight, “Language, Verse, and Style”, in Roman Vergil (Peregrine Books), Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1966, page 265:

Romani distinguishes dative and accusative pronouns formally and some Romani dialects use accusatives in constructions in which other languages employ a dative.

2000, Mily Crevels, Peter Bakker, “External Possession in Romani”, in Viktor Elšík, Yaron Matras, editors, Grammatical Relations in Romani: The Noun Phrase (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science: Series IV – Current Issues in Linguistic Theory; 211), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 181:

(grammar) A word inflected in the accusative case.


standard

en-adj

standard (comparative more standard, superlative most standard)

From Middle English standard, from Old French estandart (“gathering place, battle flag”), from Frankish *standahard (literally “stand firm, stand hard”), equivalent to stand + -ard. Alternative etymology derives the second element from Frankish *oʀd (“point, spot, place”) (compare Old French ordé (“pointed”), Old English ord (“point, source, vanguard”), German Standort (“location, place, site, position, base”, literally “standing-point”)). Merged with Middle English standar, stander, standere (“flag, banner”, literally “stander”), equivalent to stand + -er. More at stand, hard, ord.

cog

(linguistics) Conforming to the standard variety.


standard

→ Catalan: estàndard

→ Danish: standard

→ French: standard

→ Italian: standard

→ Polish: standard

→ Spanish: estándar

→ Turkish: standart

A principle or example or measure used for comparison.

(sociolinguistics) standard idiom, a prestigious or standardized language variety; standard language

стандарт

standard idiom — see also standard language


vi

intransitive verb
intransitive verb#English

(grammar) Initialism of verb intransitive or intransitive verb (often in dictionaries)


derivative

/dɪˈɹɪvətɪv/

From Middle French dérivatif, from Latin dērīvātus, perfect passive participle of dērīvō (“to derive”). Related to derive; by surface analysis, derive + -ative.

(linguistics) A word that derives from another one.


index

en-noun

index (plural indexes or indices or (obsolete, in use in the 17th century) index's)

indexes (plural)
indices (plural)
index's (obsolete plural)

⇒ Chinese: 引得 (yǐndé)

→ Japanese: インデックス (indekkusu)

From Latin index (“a discoverer, informer, spy; of things, an indicator, the forefinger, a title, superscription”), from indicō (“point out, show”); see indicate.

der

(linguistics) A type of noun where the meaning of the form changes with respect to the context; e.g., 'Today's newspaper' is an indexical form since its referent will differ depending on the context. See also icon and symbol.


index

en-verb

index (third-person singular simple present indexes, present participle indexing, simple past and past participle indexed)

indexes (present singular third-person)
indexing (participle present)
indexed (participle past)
indexed (past)

For example, the feature I indexes the current speaker in the speech event and you, the current addressee.

2008, Haruko Minegishi Cook, Socializing Identities Through Speech Style, page 22:

(linguistics, transitive) To be indexical for (some situation or state of affairs); to indicate.


present participle

en-noun

present participle (plural present participles)

(grammar) A nonfinite verb form that indicates an ongoing action or state and which can function as an adjective.


number

Tok Pisin: namba

→ Brunei Malay: numbur

→ Burmese: နံပါတ် (nampat)

→ Hindustani: नंबर (nambar) / نمبر (nambar)

→ Japanese: ナンバー (nanbā)

→ Kikuyu: namba

→ Malay: nombor

Indonesian: nomor

→ Maori: nama

→ Navajo: námboo

→ Papiamentu: number

→ Palauan: lambang

→ Swahili: nambari, namba

→ Yoruba: nọ́ḿbà

From Middle English number, nombre, numbre, noumbre, from Anglo-Norman noumbre, Old French nombre, from Latin numerus (“number”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to divide”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”). Replaced Middle English ȝetæl and rime, more at tell, tale and rhyme.

رَقْم

used to show the rank of something in a list or sequence

Adjectives and nouns should agree in gender, number, and case.

(grammar) Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.

թիվ

grammar: state of being singular, dual or plural


Indo-European

/ˌɪndəʊˌjʊəɹəˈpiːən/

Coined by English polymath Thomas Young in 1813, from Indo- + European, relating to the geographical extremes in India and Europe (which was valid before the discovery of Tocharian languages in the early 20th century).

coin

A major language family which includes many of the native languages of Europe, Western Asia and India, with notable Indic, Iranian and European sub-branches.

Proto-Indo-European: the hypothetical parent language of the Indo-European language family.


Indo-European

/ˌɪndəʊˌjʊəɹəˈpiːən/

Two theories of the origins of the Indo-Europeans currently compete. M. Gimbutas believes that early Indo-Europeans entered southeastern Europe from the Pontic Steppes starting ca. 4500 B.C. and spread from there. C. Renfrew equates early Indo-Europeans with early farmers who entered southeastern Europe from Asia Minor ca. 7000 BC and spread through the continent.

1992, R.R. Sokal, N.L. Oden, B.A. Thomson, “Origins of the Indo-Europeans: genetic evidence”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 89, →DOI, →PMID:

Thus, although at least one term for ‘alder’ can be reconstructed to PIE, the wide distribution of this tree prevents it from being diagnostic of the earlier location of the Indo-Europeans.

1997, J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, “ALDER”, in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, →ISBN, page 12:

(anthropology, archaeology, linguistics) A member of the original ethnolinguistic group hypothesized to have spoken Proto-Indo-European and thus to have been the ancestor for most of India and Western Eurasia.

հնդեվրոպացի

member of Proto-Indo-European ethnolinguistic group


Indo-European

en-adj

Indo-European (comparative more Indo-European, superlative most Indo-European)

more Indo-European (comparative)
most Indo-European (superlative)

/ˌɪndəʊˌjʊəɹəˈpiːən/

Of or relating to the hypothetical parent language of the Indo-European language family.

հնդեվրոպական

of or relating to hypothetical parent language of Indo-European language family — see also Proto-Indo-European


accent

en-noun

accent (countable and uncountable, plural accents)

From Middle English accent, from Medieval Latin accentus and Old French accent, acent, both from Latin accentus, past participle of accinō (“sing to, sing along”). The word accent had been borrowed into Old English already, but was lost and reborrowed in Middle English.

tongval

distinctive pronunciation associated with a region, social group, etc.

акце́нт

math: mark to distinguish magnitudes of similar kind

pilkku

geometry: mark indicating minutes and seconds of a degree

In the word "careful", the accent is placed on the first syllable.

(linguistics) A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to emphasize it.

My professor's accent is so thick that it's difficult to understand her lectures.

She spoke with a strong accent that betrayed her southern roots.

I was surprised to learn that he was an immigrant, as he spoke without any accent.

They were all Middle Eastern types but spoke French without any accent.

2015 November 14, Adam Gopnik, quoting Célia, “Terror Strikes in Paris”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 2022-12-19:

Growing up in the Rhondda and having a strong accent was never a problem for me and my voice never really stood out from the crowd.

2016 June 8, Tyler Mears, “I used to hide my Valleys accent in case people thought I was less intelligent - which was completely stupid”, in WalesOnline, archived from the original on 2023-01-10:

It's really hard to get in an audition room when you have an accent. Rather than being treated as the other people, you are falling into a category of foreigners who can't really maintain the role.

2018 January 24, Lakshine Sathiyanathan, Lisa Xing, quoting Mariya Miloshevych, “Why some people try to chip away at their accent”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 2022-12-09:

Why go to the effort of writing in a character with an Indian name played by an Indian actor whose main personality trait is that he is stupid and has an accent?

2020 December 30, Christi Carras, quoting Rishi Maharaj, “'Schitt's Creek' star Rizwan Manji defends his character's Indian accent”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2022-12-09:

But over the years, even after perfecting "accent-less" English, graduating from college, getting a job at Goldman Sachs, and becoming an American citizen, Arce still felt like she didn't belong.

2022 March 22, Elise Hu, Jinae West, Jordana Hochman, Andrea Gutierrez, “Rejecting assimilation in 'You Sound Like a White Girl'”, in NPR, archived from the original on 2022-12-09:

(linguistics, sociolinguistics) The distinctive manner of pronouncing a language associated with a particular region, social group, etc., whether of a native speaker or a foreign speaker; the phonetic and phonological aspects of a dialect.

(informal, sometimes proscribed) A manner of pronunciation suggesting that the speaker is from a different region; a foreign accent.

I believe I still retain some of my hearing accent when I use American Sign Language.

2008, Jeremy Linn Brunson, The Practice and Organization of Sign Language, page 76:

Cheesesteaks, Peanut Chews, Tastykakes, oh yeah, the Liberty Bell — there's so much to love about Philadelphia, but one of the best things about the city of Brotherly Love is the accent. We're not talking about spoken English — we're talking about American Sign Language.

2015 November 5, Nina Porzucki, The World, archived from the original on 2022-12-07:

(sign languages) A distinctive manner of producing a sign language, such as someone who does not normally use a certain sign language might have when using it.

murre

a foreign accent

a broad Irish accent

a hint of a German accent

(prosody, poetry) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.


morph

Back-formation from morpheme, from Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape”). Compare German Morph, from Morphem. Attested since the 1940s.

der

(grammar, linguistics) A recurrent distinctive sound or sequence of sounds representing an indivisible morphological form; especially as representing a morpheme.

(linguistics) An allomorph: one of a set of realizations that a morpheme can have in different contexts.


free

en-adj

free (comparative freer or more free, superlative freest or most free)

freer (comparative)
more free (comparative)
freest (superlative)
most free (superlative)

From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English frēo (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please, love”). Related to friend.
cognates, etc
Germanic cognates include West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), Low German free (“free”), German frei (“free”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian fri (“free”).
Other cognates include Russian приятель (prijatelʹ, “friend”) and Sanskrit प्रिय (priyá-, “beloved”).
Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").
The verb comes from Middle English freen, freoȝen, from Old English frēon, frēoġan (“to free; make free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frijōn, from Proto-Germanic *frijōną, from Proto-Indo-European *preyH-.

inh

there ain't no such thing as a free lunch

why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free

(linguistics) (of a morpheme) That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.


colloquial

en-adj

colloquial (comparative more colloquial, superlative most colloquial)

1751, from earlier term colloquy (“a conversation”), from Latin colloquium (“conference, conversation”), from con- (“together”) + loquor (“to speak”), + -al.

der

You're using too many colloquial words in this cover letter: I suggest changing "I picked up loads of cool skills" to "I acquired many positive abilities"

The colloquial, and at times sarcastic, tone of her books makes her popular with teenagers.

(linguistics) Characteristic of familiar conversation, of common parlance; informal.


abstract

en-adj

abstract (comparative more abstract or abstracter, superlative most abstract or abstractest)

more abstract (comparative)
abstracter (comparative)
most abstract (superlative)
abstractest (superlative)

From Middle English abstract, borrowed from Latin abstractus, perfect passive participle of abstrahō (“draw away”), formed from abs- (“away”) + trahō (“to pull, draw”). The verbal sense is first attested in 1542.

(grammar) As a noun, denoting a concept or intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.


name

en-verb

name (third-person singular simple present names, present participle naming, simple past and past participle named)

names (present singular third-person)
naming (participle present)
named (participle past)
named (past)

From Middle English namen, from Old English namian (“to name, mention”) and ġenamian (“to name, call, appoint”), from Proto-West Germanic *namōn (“to name”). Compare also Old English nemnan, nemnian (“to name, give a name to a person or thing”).

my very easy method just speeds up naming planets

The painter was named as an accomplice.

(transitive) To publicly implicate by name.


language

en-noun

language (countable and uncountable, plural languages)

From Middle English langage, language, from Old French language, from Vulgar Latin *linguāticum, from Latin lingua (“tongue, speech, language”), from Old Latin dingua (“tongue”), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue, speech, language”). Doublet of langaj. Displaced native Old English ġeþēode.

der

/ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/

[ˈleɪŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

a language is a dialect with an army and navy

language analysis for the determination of origin

The English and German languages are both members of the West Germanic language family.

Deaf and mute people communicate using sign language.

Hence the natural language of the mute is, in schools of this class, suppressed as soon and as far as possible, and its existence as a language, capable of being made the reliable and precise vehicle for the widest range of thought, is ignored.

1867, Report on the Systems of Deaf-Mute Instruction pursued in Europe, quoted in 1983 in History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907 →ISBN, page 240

No language could express his rage and despair.

1900, William Beckford, The History of the Caliph Vathek, page 50:

Mr. Darko, generally acknowledged to be the last surviving member of the Ofo Tribe, was also the last remaining speaker of the tribe's language.

2000, Geary Hobson, The Last of the Ofos, →ISBN, page 113:

(countable) A body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication.

бызшва

body of words used as a form of communication

the gift of language

Language is the articulation of the limited to express the unlimited; it is the ultimate mystery which is the image of God, for in breaking up infinity to create finite beings, God has found a way to let the limited being yet be a reflection of His unlimited Being.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 15:

(uncountable) The ability to communicate using words.

body language; the language of the eyes

A tale about themselves [is] told by people with help from the universal languages of their eyes, their hands, and even their shirting feet.

2001, Eugene C. Kennedy, Sara C. Charles, On Becoming a Counselor, →ISBN:

Birding had become like that for me. It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 231:

(countable, uncountable, figurative) The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way; that which communicates something, as language does.

1782, William Cowper, Hope
Their language simple, as their manners meek, […]


language

/ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/

[ˈleɪŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

A flue-pipe is one in which the air passes through the throat, or flue, which is the narrow, longitudinal aperture between the lower lip and the tongue, or language. […] The language is adjusted by slightly elevating or depressing it, […]

1896, William Horatio Clarke, The Organist's Retrospect, page 79:

A languet, a flat plate in or below the flue pipe of an organ.


open

en-adj

open (comparative more open, superlative most open)

more open (comparative)
most open (superlative)

closed-source

antonym(s) of “with a free license and no proprietary components”

From Middle English open, from Old English open (“open”), from Proto-West Germanic *opan, from Proto-Germanic *upanaz (“open”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo (“up from under, over”).
cognates
* Scots apen (“open”)
* Saterland Frisian eepen (“open”)
* West Frisian iepen (“open”)
* Dutch open (“open”)
* Low German open, apen (“open”)
* German offen (“open”)
* Danish åben (“open”)
* Swedish öppen (“open”)
* Norwegian Bokmål åpen (“open”)
* Norwegian Nynorsk open (“open”)
* Icelandic opinn (“open”)
 Compare also Latin supinus (“on one's back, supine”), Albanian hap (“to open”). Related to up.

der

at church every time the doors swing open

"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) Uttered with a relatively wide opening of the articulating organs; said of vowels.

(phonetics) Uttered, as a consonant, with the oral passage simply narrowed without closure.

(phonetics, of a syllable) That ends in a vowel; not having a coda.


imperfect

en-adj

imperfect (comparative more imperfect, superlative most imperfect)

more imperfect (comparative)
most imperfect (superlative)

From Middle English imperfit, from Old French imparfit (modern French imparfait), from Latin imperfectus. Spelling modified 15c. to conform Latin etymology. See im- + perfect.

Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi]:

Nothing imperfet or deficient left
 Of all that he Created.

1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

Then say not man's imperfect, Heaven in fault; / Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought.

1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

(taxonomy) known or expected to be polyphyletic, as of a form taxon.

(grammar) belonging to a tense of verbs used in describing a past action that is incomplete or continuous


imperfect

(grammar) a tense of verbs used in describing a past action that is incomplete or continuous


last name

Synonym of surname, a person's family name.


copulate

From the perfect passive participle of Latin cōpulāre (“to couple”).

Copulate words may be really a simple subject, 1, a repetition of the same notion, often a climax

1870, Francis March, A Comparative Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language:

(grammar) Joining subject and predicate; copulative.


relative pronoun

en-noun

relative pronoun (plural relative pronouns)

interrogative pronoun
interrogative pronoun

(grammar) A pronoun that introduces a relative clause and refers to an antecedent. In English, some words that can be used as interrogative pronouns can alternatively be used as relative pronouns: which, who, whose, whom and (non-standard) what. The other English relative pronouns are whoever, whomever, whatever, and that.


possessive pronoun

possessive pronoun (plural possessive pronouns)

The possessive pronouns are, my, thy, his, her, its, our, your, their, own.

1878, Geo. F. Holmes, A Grammar of the English Language, page 66:

(grammar) A pronoun which expresses possession.


demonstrative pronoun

demonstrative pronoun (plural demonstrative pronouns)

Note: In English they are the same as the demonstrative adjectives - this, that, these and those

(grammar) a pronoun that replaces a noun whose identity can be understood from the context; it indicates whether the noun is singular or plural, and whether it is near or far from the speaker or writer


definite article

definite article (plural definite articles)

(grammar) An article that introduces a noun and specifies it as the particular noun that is being considered; in English, the only definite article is the and its variations.

вы́значаны арты́кль

article introducing a noun and specifying it as the particular noun considered


subordinate clause

subordinate clause (plural subordinate clauses)

(grammar) A clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence, but functions as either a noun, adjective or adverb in a sentence.


main clause

(grammar) A clause that can stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence and contains at least a subject and a verb.

pennlavarenn

grammar: clause that can stand alone syntactically


genitive case

(grammar) Noun case used to express some relationship such as possession or origin. It corresponds roughly to the English preposition “of” and the suffix “-'s”.


main verb

(grammar) In a clause, the verb with the highest semantic content, contrasted with auxiliary verb.

hoofdwerkwoord

verb in a clause with the highest semantic content

(grammar) In a sentence, the main-clause verb with the highest semantic content.


accusative case

accusative case (plural accusative cases)

(grammar): In English and other modern languages, the case used to mark the immediate object (direct object) on which the transitive verb acts. In Latin grammar, the accusative case (cāsus accūsātīvus) includes functions derived from the Indo-European accusative and lative cases; said Lative Case expresses concepts similar to those of the English prepositions "to" and "towards".


subordinating conjunction

subordinating conjunction (plural subordinating conjunctions)

(grammar) A word that appears at the beginning of a subordinate clause and establishes its nature.

stagell isurzhiañ

a word establishing the nature of a subordinate clause


subject clause

(grammar) a clause that is the subject of a sentence


negative clause

negative clause (plural negative clauses)

(grammar) a clause that states a negative


indefinite pronoun

indefinite pronoun (plural indefinite pronouns)

(grammar) A pronoun that does not specify the identity of its referent.

onbepaalde voornaamwoord

Pronoun not specifying the identity of its referent


simple present

simple present (usually uncountable, plural simple presents)

simple (“accompanied by no modal or auxiliary verb”)

(grammar) The present tense; a verb or sentence in this tense.


coordinating conjunction

coordinating conjunction (plural coordinating conjunctions)

(grammar) A conjunction that joins two grammatical elements of the same status or construction. It can join subjects, objects, verbs, nouns, adjectives, phrases, and independent clauses.


auxiliary verb

/ɔːɡˈzɪljəɹi ˈvɜː(ɹ)b/

(grammar) A verb that accompanies the main verb in a clause in order to make distinctions in tense, mood, voice or aspect.


direct verb

(grammar) A verb that agrees in person and number with the subject of a clause, by conjugation. Conjugation is a form of inflection.


present continuous

(grammar) A tense that describes an ongoing action in the present. In English it is formed by use of a form of be with a present participle.

現在進行時

duurvorm onvoltooid tegenwoordige tijd (d.o.t.t.)


indefinite article

indefinite article (plural indefinite articles)

The English Indefinite Article, "a" or "an", is more frequently used that the Italian Indefinite Article, "un", "uno", "una".

1884, Napoleone Perini, “On the Use of the Indefinite Article”, in An Italian Conversation Grammar, page 98:

In the indefinite article, we must note the plural in i, due to the influence of the plural li of the definite article[.]

1921, Harry Egerton Ford, “Part II. Morphology”, in Modern Provençal Phonology and Morphology:

The main literary dialect of ancient Greek ... has a definite article, but no indefinite article.

2018, Kory Stamper, Word by Word, page 28:

(grammar) A word preceding a noun to indicate that the noun refers to any member of the class of objects named by the noun.

нявы́значаны арты́кль

word preceding a noun to indicate any member of the class of objects


subjunctive

From Latin subjunctīvus (“serving to join, connecting, in grammar applies to the subjunctive mode”), from subjungere (“to add, join, subjoin”), from sub (“under”) + jungere (“to join, yoke”). See join.

bor

(grammar, of a verb) Inflected to indicate that an act or state of being is possible, contingent or hypothetical, and not a fact.

suxuntivu

possible, contingent, or hypothetical; not a fact


subjunctive

en-noun

subjunctive (countable and uncountable, plural subjunctives)

subjunctive mood
subjunctive mood#English

(grammar, uncountable) Ellipsis of subjunctive mood.


noun phrase

The term "restaurant supply service" is a noun phrase, as are "red blood cell" and "happy cat".

Many collocations are noun phrases.

(grammar) A phrase that has a noun (or indefinite pronoun) as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun.

rannfrazenn anv

phrase that can serve as the subject or the object of a verb


dative case

(grammar) Case used to express direction towards an indirect object, the recipient or beneficiary of an action, and is generally indicated in English by to (when a recipient) or for (when a beneficiary) with the objective case. The direct object may be either stated or unstated where the indirect object is the beneficiary of the verbal action, but is stated where the indirect object is a recipient. If there is emphasis on the indirect object, the indirect object usually precedes the direct object and is not usually indicated with to or for; said structure is also used when neither object is being emphasized.

dhanore

case used to express direction towards an indirect object

өгөх оршихын тийн ялгал (ögöx oršixyn tiin jalgal, literally “dative-locative case”)

өгөхийн тийн ялгал (ögöxiin tiin jalgal, literally “dative case”)


compound sentence

compound sentence (plural compound sentences)

(grammar) A sentence that has two or more independent clauses, joined by a conjunction (such as 'but', 'and') and/or punctuation (such as ',').

բարդ նախադասություն

a sentence that has two or more independent clauses, joined by a conjunction and/or punctuation.


passive voice

passive voice (usually uncountable, plural passive voices)

The passive voice is sometimes criticized for de-emphasizing the actor. ["is ... criticized" is passive.]

Many languages, including English, use auxiliary verbs in constructing the passive voice.

(grammar) The form of a transitive verb in which its subject receives the action.


intransitive verb

intransitive verb (plural intransitive verbs)

In the English language, ‘sleep’ is an intransitive verb.

“‘Feel’ is an intransitive verb in your sentence and is modified by an adjective.”

2003, Toni Morrison, Love, Vintage (2016), page 126:

(grammar) An action verb which does not take a direct object.

فِعْل لَازِم

action verb not taking a direct object — see also neuter


indirect object

indirect object (plural indirect objects)

(grammar) A grammatical role of a ditransitive verb that manifests a secondary or passive participant in an action, often a recipient or goal.

(grammar, in languages with case distinctions also) The object of a monotransitive verb that it is not in the accusative case, especially when it is in the dative case.


direct object

(grammar, in languages without cases) The noun or noun phrase that a verb is directly acting upon.

(grammar, in languages with case distinctions) Such an object when it is in the accusative case, but (generally) not when it is in another case.


take

en-verb

take (third-person singular simple present takes, present participle taking, simple past took, past participle taken or (archaic or Scotland) tane)

takes (present singular third-person)
taking (participle present)
took (past)
taken (participle past)
tane (Scotland archaic participle past)
take (infinitive)

Brill Publishers
Helmut Rix
Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben

From Middle English taken (“to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike”), from Old English tacan (“to grasp, touch”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse taka (“to touch, take”), from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch”), from pre-Germanic *deh₁g- (“to touch”), possibly a phonetically altered form of Proto-Indo-European *te-th₂g- (“to touch, take”) (see there for details).
Cognate with Scots tak, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk taka (“to take”), Norwegian Bokmål ta (“to take”), Swedish ta (“to take”), Danish tage (“to take, seize”), Middle Dutch taken (“to grasp”), Dutch taken (“to take; grasp”), Middle Low German tacken (“to grasp”). English thack may be from the same root. Compare tackle. Unrelated to Lithuanian tèkti (“to receive, be granted”), which is instead cognate with English thig.
Gradually displaced Middle English nimen (“to take”; see nim), from Old English niman (“to take”).

unést

to support or carry without failing or breaking

This verb takes the dative; that verb takes the genitive.

(transitive) To accept as an input to a relation.

(transitive, grammar) To have to be used with (a certain grammatical form, etc.).


symbol

From French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed”), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign”), from συμβάλλω (sumbállō, “I throw together, dash together, compare, correspond, tally, come to a conclusion”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw, put”).

der

(linguistics) A type of noun whereby the form refers to the same entity independently of the context; a symbol arbitrarily denotes a referent. See also icon and index.


cardinal number

en-noun

cardinal number (plural cardinal numbers)

“Three” is a cardinal number, while “third” is an ordinal number.

(grammar) A word that expresses a countable quantity; a cardinal numeral.


adjunct

/ˈæd͡ʒ.ʌŋkt/

From Latin adiunctus, perfect passive participle of adiungō (“join to”), from ad + iungō (“join”). Doublet of adjoint.

noun adjunct

When a female enters the profession, she is generally not referred to as doctor but as a lady doctor or woman doctor. The use of "feminizing" adjuncts designates a deviation from the norm, doctor, and does not carry the weight of the term unmodified.

1981 April 4, Signe A. Dayhoff, “Sexist Language: You Become Your Label”, in Gay Community News, page 9:

(grammar) A dispensable phrase in a clause or sentence that modifies its meaning.


indicative

en-adj

indicative (comparative more indicative, superlative most indicative)

more indicative (comparative)
most indicative (superlative)

From Middle French indicatif, from Late Latin indicātīvus.

(grammar) of, or relating to the indicative mood


indicative

en-noun

indicative (countable and uncountable, plural indicatives)

(grammar, uncountable) The indicative mood.

The fact that imperative forms were taken into English as indicatives suggests that the English speakers using the Hindustani verbs were most familiar (in some cases perhaps only familiar) with the imperative form.

2018, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles”, in World Englishes, volume 37, page 253:

(grammar, countable) A term in the indicative mood.


affirmative

/əˈfɜːmətɪv/

From Middle English affirmative, affirmatyve, from Old French affirmatif, from Latin affirmativus, from affirmare (“to assert”).

(grammar) An answer that shows agreement or acceptance.


ordinal number

First, second and third are the ordinal numbers corresponding to one, two and three.

(grammar) A word that expresses the relative position of an item in a sequence.


dual

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
Borrowed from Latin dualis (“two”), from duo (“two”) + adjective suffix -alis.

Modern Arabic displays a dual number, as did Homeric Greek.

(grammar) Pertaining to a grammatical number in certain languages that refers to two of something, such as a pair of shoes.


dual

مُثَنَّى

grammatical number of a noun marking two of something


dative

From Latin datīvus (“appropriate for giving”), itself from datus (the past participle of dō (“I give”)) + -īvus (“-ive”).

der

(grammar) Noting the case of a noun which expresses the remoter or indirect object, generally indicated in English by to or for with the objective.

مفعول لأجله

grammar: noting the case of noun which expresses indirect object

(mathematics, obsolete) Given in advance; not needed to be calculated.


dative

(grammar) A word inflected in the dative case.


antecedent

From Middle English antecedent, borrowed from Old French antecedent, from Latin antecēdēns (“going before”), from antecēdō (“to precede; excel; surpass”).

[W]hereas it might seem orderly that, as who is appropriated to persons, so that should have been appropriated to things […] the antecedent of that is often personal

1926, H. W. Fowler, “that rel. pron.”, in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, reprint of the first edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 634, column 2:

One such condition can be formulated in terms of the c-command relation defined in (9) above: the relevant condition is given in (16) below:
(16) C-COMMAND CONDITION ON ANAPHORS
An anaphor must have an appropriate c-commanding antecedent

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 117:

(grammar) A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun or other pro-form.

төлөөлөгдөхүүн

tölöölögdöxüün


MIA

Middle Indo-Aryan
Middle Indo-Aryan#English

(Indo-Aryan linguistics) Initialism of Middle Indo-Aryan.


nominative

From Middle English nominatyf, either via Old French nominatif or directly from Latin nōminātīvus (“pertaining to naming, nominative”).

(grammar) Being in that case or form of a noun which stands as the subject of a finite verb.


imperative

en-adj

imperative (comparative more imperative, superlative most imperative)

more imperative (comparative)
most imperative (superlative)

(grammar) Of, or relating to the imperative mood.

əmr şəkli

grammar: of, or relating to the imperative mood


imperative

en-noun

imperative (countable and uncountable, plural imperatives)

The verbs in sentences like "Do it!" and "Say what you like!" are in the imperative.

(uncountable, grammar) The grammatical mood expressing an order (see jussive). In English, the imperative form of a verb is the same as that of the bare infinitive.

(countable, grammar) A verb in imperative mood.


nominative case

nominative case (plural nominative cases)

(grammar) The case used to indicate the subject—or agent—of a finite verb.

Every Verb, except in the Infinitive or the Participle, hath its Nominative Caſe, either expreſſed or implied [4]: as,
"Awake, ariſe, or be for ever fall'n: that is, "Awake ye, &c."

1763, Robert Lowth, A Short Introduction to English Grammar, page 133:

(obsolete, grammar) The subject of a verb.


zero

From French zéro, from Italian zero, from Medieval Latin zephirum, from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “nothing, cipher”), itself calqued from Sanskrit शून्य (śūnya, “void, nothingness”). Doublet of cipher and chiffre.

der

The stem of "kobieta" with the zero ending is "kobiet".

(linguistics) Present at an abstract level, but not realized in the surface form.

nolla-

linguistics: present at an abstract level but not realized in the data