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, →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.


accidence

en-noun

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


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., 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.


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


mass noun

paningob

noun describing something that cannot be counted


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.


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


achievement

en-noun

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.


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


transitive verb

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


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.


morpheme

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

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


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.


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


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.


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


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


adverb

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

‘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.


government

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.

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.


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.


singular

en-adj

singular (comparative more singular, superlative most singular)

more singular (comparative)
most singular (superlative)

From Middle English singuler, Borrowed 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


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

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.


absolute

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.


vi

intransitive verb
intransitive verb#English

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


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.


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.


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


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.


imperfect

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.

(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


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.).


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.


demonstrative pronoun

en-noun

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


relative pronoun

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.


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.


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”.


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".


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.


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


negative clause

negative clause (plural negative clauses)

(grammar) a clause that states a negative


subject clause

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


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.)


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


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


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.


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.


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”)


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


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.


cardinal number

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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, 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

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

An anaphor must have an appropriate c-commanding antecedent

(grammar) A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun.

төлөөлөгдөхүүн

tölöölögdöxüün


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.


declension

declension (countable and uncountable, plural declensions)

From Middle English declenson, from Middle French declinaison (Modern French: déclinaison), from Latin dēclīnātiō. Doublet of declination.

(grammar) The act of declining a word; the act of listing the inflections of a noun, pronoun or adjective in order.

a page full of declensions

(grammar) The product of that act; a list of declined forms.

In Latin, 'amicus' belongs to the second declension. Most second-declension nouns end in '-i' in the genitive singular and '-um' in the accusative singular.

(grammar) A way of categorizing nouns, pronouns, or adjectives according to the inflections they receive.


ending

From Middle English endyng, endinge, endunge, from Old English endung, ġeendung (“ending”), equivalent to end + -ing. Cognate with Dutch ending (“ending”), German Endung (“ending”).

Spanish verb forms have different endings depending on the tense, mood and person.

(grammar) The last morpheme of a word, added to some base to make an inflected form (such as -s in "dogs").


interjection

/ˌɪn.tɚˈd͡ʒɛk.ʃən/

From Middle English interjeccioun, from Old French interjection (13th century), from Latin interiectiōnem, accusative singular of interiectiō (“throwing or placing between; interjection”), perfect passive participle of intericiō (“throw or place between”), from inter (“between”) + iaciō (“throw”). Displaced Old English betwēoxāworpennes (literally “between-thrown-out-ness”), a calque of the Latin.

cog

Some evidence confirming our suspicions that topicalised and dislocated constituents occupy different sentence positions comes from Greenberg (1984). He notes that in colloquial speech the interjection man can occur after dislocated constituents, but not after topicalised constituents: cf.
(21) (a) Bill, man, I really hate him (dislocated NP)
(21) (b) ^✽Bill, man, I really hate (topicalised NP)

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 10, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 533

(grammar) An exclamation or filled pause; a word or phrase with no particular grammatical relation to a sentence, often an expression of emotion.


infinitive

From Middle French infinitif, from Late Latin infinitivus (“unlimited, indefinite”), from Latin infinitus (“unlimited, infinite”).

der

The MANNERS of acting, in grammar called modes or moods, are four; Infinitive, Imperative, Indicative, Subjunctive or Conjunctive.

1847, J. J. P. Le Brethon, L. Sandier, Guide to the French language; especially devised for persons who wish to study that language without the assistance of a teacher. the tenth edition, revised and corrected, London, page 69

There are four moods, the Infinitive, Imperative, Indicative, and Subjunctive. [...] the Infinitive is used to express a thing in a general manner.

1857, Henry Tindall, A grammar and vocabulary of the Namaqua-Hottentot language, page 38

(grammar) The infinitive mood or mode (a grammatical mood).

(grammar) A non-finite verb form considered neutral with respect to inflection; depending on language variously found used with auxiliary verbs, in subordinate clauses, or acting as a gerund, and often as the dictionary form.

(grammar) A verbal noun formed from the infinitive of a verb.


infinitive

INFINITIVE MOOD or MANNER.
To Have, Avoir.

1847, J. J. P. Le Brethon, L. Sandier, Guide to the French language; especially devised for persons who wish to study that language without the assistance of a teacher. the tenth edition, revised and corrected, London, page 70

In English there are four moods:–1. The Infinitive Mood. 2. The Indicative Mood. 3. the Imperative Mood. 4. The Subjunctive Mood.

1858, C. P. Mason, English grammar; including the principles of grammatical analysis, London, page 32


in

PIE word
 *h₁en
Preposition and verb from Middle English in, from Old English in, from Proto-Germanic *in.
Adverb, noun and adjective from Middle English in, from Old English inn and inne, from Proto-Germanic *innai.
Sense 1/2 "in"/"into" are from the original PIE prefix, with locative/accusative case respectively. Sense 3/4 "qualification"/"means" are from the PIE metaphor of all infinitives coming from locatives.

Many English nouns in -is form their plurals in -es.

Used to indicate location, inclusion, or position within spatial, temporal or other limits.


attributive

en-adj

attributive (comparative more attributive, superlative most attributive)

more attributive (comparative)
most attributive (superlative)

In "this big house", "big" is attributive, whereas in "this house is big", it is predicative.

In "this tiger is a man-eater," "man" is an attributive noun.

Since both Attributes and Adjuncts recursively expand N-bar into N-bar, it seems clear that the two have essentially the same function, so that Attributes are simply pronominal Adjuncts (though we shall continue to follow tradition and refer to attributive premodifiers as Attributes rather than Adjuncts).

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 197

ATTRIBUTIVE NOUN. A noun that modifies another noun: steel in steel bridge; London in London house.

2005, Thomas Burns McArthur, Tom McArthur, Roshan McArthur, Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language

Grammatically, three ways of using adjectives can be distinguished: the attributive use, the predicative use and the adverbial use. We will only deal with the attributive and the predicative use here. In the attributive use, the adjective, within an NP, is attached to the head noun, e.g. a dubious company, a red balloon, the stupid driver.

2013, Sebastian Loebner, Understanding Semantics

(grammar, of a word or phrase) Modifying another word, typically a noun, while in the same phrase.


attributive

In "this big house," "big" is an attributive, while in "this house is big," it is a predicative.

(grammar) An attributive word or phrase (see above), contrasted with predicative or substantive.

定語

a word or phrase that modifies a noun and is part of the noun's noun phrase


copula

Borrowed from Latin copula (“connection, linking of words”), from co- (“together”) + apere (“fasten”). Doublet of couple.

bor

I begin by arguing in section 2 that there are in fact at least two Celtic copulas, a grammatical copula that simply spells out tense and agreement, and a substantive copula formed on a lexically listed verbal stem.

1994, Randall Hendrick, “8: The Brythonic Celtic copula and head raising”, in David Lightfoot, Norbert Hornstein, editors, Verb Movement, page 163

The theory of conjunctively tensed copulae will be developed and stated with more precision in the following section.

2002, Quentin Smith, Language and Time, page 189

This paper explores the position of the copula in the development of the verb system in second language acquisition of Italian.

2003, Giuliano Bernini, “The copula in learner Italian: Finiteness and verbal inflection”, in Christine Dimroth, Marianne Starren, editors, Information Structure and the Dynamics of Language Acquisition, page 159

The present study focuses on the acquisition of a specific verbal element, namely the copula, in predicative constructions in a cross-linguistic perspective (English, German, Croatian).

2006, Christine Czinglar, Antigone Katiĉić, Katharina Köhler, Chris Schaner-Wolles, edited by Natalia Gagarina and Insa Gülzow, Strategies in the L1-Acquisition of Predication: The Copula Construction in German and Croatian, page 95

(linguistics, grammar) A word, usually a verb, used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate (usually a subject complement or an adverbial), that unites or associates the subject with the predicate.


superlative

From Middle English superlatyf, from Old French superlatif, from Late Latin superlātīvus, from Latin superlātus (“extravagant, of hyperbole”), past participle of superfero (“carry over”), from super (“above”) + fero (“bear, carry”).

der

The superlative of "big" is "biggest".

(grammar) The form of an adjective that expresses which of several items has the highest degree of the quality expressed by the adjective; in English, formed by appending "-est" to the end of the adjective (for some short adjectives only) or putting "most" before it.


superlative

(grammar) Of or relating to a superlative.


irregular

en-adj

irregular (comparative more irregular, superlative most irregular)

more irregular (comparative)
most irregular (superlative)

/ɪˈɹɛɡ.jʊ.lə/

/ɪˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/

From Middle English irreguler, from Old French irreguler, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin irrēgulāris, from in- + regularis, equivalent to ir- + regular.

"Calves", "cacti", and "children" are irregular plurals.

I hate learning all the irregular conjugations in French.

(grammar, of a word) not following the regular or expected patterns of inflection in a given language

heteroclite

not following the regular patterns of inflection


conditional

From Old French condicionel (French conditionnel).

a conditional word, mode, or tense

(grammar) Expressing a condition or supposition.


conditional

conditional sentence
conditional sentence

(grammar) A conditional sentence; a statement that depends on a condition being true or false.


vocative

vocative (comparative more vocative, superlative most vocative)

more vocative (comparative)
most vocative (superlative)

From Late Middle English [Term?], borrowed from Middle French vocatif, from Latin vocātīvus (“for calling”); a calque of Ancient Greek κλητῐκή (klētikḗ, “for calling; vocative case”) – from vocāre (“to call”), from Proto-Indo-European *wokʷ-, o-grade of *wekʷ- (“give vocal utterance, speak”). See Latin vōx.

(grammar) Used in address; appellative (said of that case or form of the noun, pronoun, or adjective, in which a person or thing is addressed). For example "Domine, O Lord"


genitive

/ˈd͡ʒɛnətɪv/

From Renaissance Latin cāsus genitīvus (literally “case pertaining to origin, birth”) (also spelled cāsus genetīvus), from genitus, the perfect passive participle of gignō (“beget”).

der

The student who had taken a German exam realised his error afterwards. He had used the dative case instead of the genitive case to show possession.

(grammar) Of or pertaining to that case (as the second case of Latin and Greek nouns) which expresses a quality, origin or possession. It corresponds to the possessive case in English.

إِضَافِيّ

of or pertaining to the case of possession


genitive

en-noun

genitive (countable and uncountable, plural genitives)

/ˈd͡ʒɛnətɪv/

(grammar, uncountable) An inflection pattern (of any given language) that expresses origin or ownership and possession.

(grammar, countable) A word inflected in the genitive case; a word indicating origin, ownership or possession.


comparative

From Middle English comparatif, from Middle French comparatif, from Latin comparātīvus, equivalent to comparātus, from comparāre (“to compare”) + -ive, from Latin -īvus.

(grammar) A construction showing a relative quality, in English usually formed by adding more or appending -er. For example, the comparative of green is greener; of evil, more evil.

(grammar) A word in the comparative form.


helping verb

Such verbs as can be formed through the present and past times without the aid of any of these helping verbs, are called principal verbs, and are formed thus:

1814, Lindley Murray, The Young Man's Best Companion: And Book of General Knowledge

(grammar) An auxiliary verb; a verb that accompanies the main verb in a clause.


time

time (countable and uncountable, plural times)

Sranan Tongo: ten

From Middle English tyme, time, from Old English tīma (“time, period, space of time, season, lifetime, fixed time, favorable time, opportunity”), from Proto-West Germanic *tīmō, from Proto-Germanic *tīmô (“time”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂imō, from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- (“to divide”). Related to tide. Not related to Latin tempus.
cognates
*Scots tym, tyme (“time”)
*Alemannic German Zimen, Zīmmän (“time, time of the year, opportune time, opportunity”)
*Danish time (“hour, lesson”)
*Swedish timme (“hour”)
*Norwegian time (“lesson, hour”)
*Faroese tími (“hour, lesson, time”)
*Icelandic tími (“time, season”).

عَصْر

extended period of time, defined or undefined: age, era, etc.

at church every time the doors swing open

desperate times call for desperate measures

desperate times require desperate measures

serial time-encoded amplified microscopy

there is a place and time for everything

there is a time and place for everything

there's a time and a place for everything

time spent laughing is time spent with the gods

time stretch analog-to-digital converter

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 106. Time

the time of a verb

Though we have, in the notes under the thirteenth rule of the Grammar, explained in general the principles, on which the time of a verb in the infinitive mood may be ascertained, and its form determined; [...]

1823, Lindley Murray, Key to the Exercises Adapted to Murray's English Grammar, Fortland, page 53f

The participles of the future time active, and perfect passive, when joined with the verb esse, were sometimes used as indeclinable; thus, [...]

1829, Benjamin A. Gould, Adam's Latin Grammar, Boston, page 153


tense

From Middle English tens, from Old French tens (modern French temps), from Latin tempus. Doublet of tempo and tempus.

The basic tenses in English are present, past, and future.

(grammar, countable) Any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when an action or state of being occurs or exists.

English only has a past tense and a non-past tense; it has no future tense.

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

(linguistics, grammar, countable) An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense.


tense

en-verb

tense (third-person singular simple present tenses, present participle tensing, simple past and past participle tensed)

tenses (present singular third-person)
tensing (participle present)
tensed (participle past)
tensed (past)

tensing a verb

(grammar, transitive) To apply a tense to.


masculine

en-adj

masculine (comparative more masculine, superlative most masculine)

more masculine (comparative)
most masculine (superlative)

From Middle English masculyne, masculyn, from Old French masculin, from Latin masculīnus, diminutive of masculus (“male, manly”), itself a diminutive of mās (“male”). Displaced native Old English werlīċ (literally “manly”).

The noun Student is masculine in German.

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

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

mashkullor

grammar: being of the masculine class, being inflected in the masculine manner

امذ (IMẔ; ism-muẕakkar, literally “m; masucline noun”)

German uses the masculine form of the definite article, der, with Student.

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

Coordinate term: feminine

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


masculine

maskuliin

(grammar) a word of the masculine gender

The masculine functions as the negative term in the opposition, i.e. when the gender is not defined, the masculine is used.

2009, Carlos Quiles, Fernando López-Menchero, A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, Second Edition

As to the class to which the masculines of the strong declension belong, we repeat that […]

1905, George Theodore Dippold, A German grammar for high schools and colleges

(grammar) A word of the masculine gender.


article

[ˈɑːtʰɪkʰəɫ]

[ˈɑ(ː)ɹɾɨkɫ̩]

From Middle English article, from Old French article, from Latin articulus (“a joint, limb, member, part, division, the article in grammar, a point of time”), from Latin artus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂értus (“that which is fit together; juncture, ordering”), from the root *h₂er- (“to join, fit (together)”). Doublet of articulus.

der

‘A song called “Freak Like Me” by the Sugababes,’ said Jesse.
‘Just Sugababes, no article,’ the man said, enjoying the stunned reaction on Jesse’s face.

2020, Paul Mendez, Rainbow Milk, Dialogue Books (2021), page 118

(grammar) A part of speech that indicates, specifies and limits a noun (a, an, or the in English). In some languages the article may appear as an ending (e.g. definite article in Swedish) or there may be none (e.g. Russian, Pashto).


neuter

en-adj

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

more neuter (comparative)
most neuter (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English neutre, from Latin neuter, from ne (“not”) + uter (“whether”), a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros); compare English whether and neither.

semantic loan

a neuter noun

the neuter definite article

a neuter termination

the neuter gender

In The Cook and the Carpenter, Arnold used the device of a neuter pronoun "na," instead of assigning gender to the characters.

1982 April 10, Maida Tilchen, “June Arnold Dies of Cancer”, in Gay Community News, page 3

(grammar) Having a form which is not masculine nor feminine; or having a form which is not of common gender.

asnjanës

grammar: having a form which is not masculine nor feminine

a neuter verb

intransitiv

grammar: intransitive — see also intransitive


neuter

(grammar) A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words.

Make one do, or act (to), fare fare, fare agire, with an accusative when the verb is a neuter, and with a dative when otherwise.

1820, M. Santagnello, A Dictionary of the Peculiarities of the Italian Language, G. and W. B. Whittaker, page 185

Compound verbs other than those already spoken of whereby neuters are made active, are very rare, as I have already hinted under the head of nouns.

1847, Brian Houghton Hodgson, Essay the First; On the Kocch, Bódo and Dhimál Tribes, in Three Parts, J. Thomas, page 119

In all the Apachean languages, verbs are divided into two major categories, neuters and actives, each of which may be further divided into intransitives, transitives, and passives.

1971, Harry Hoijer, “Athapaskan Morphology”, in Jesse O. Sawyer, editor, Studies in American Indian Languages, University of California Press, published 1973, page 130

(grammar) An intransitive verb or state-of-being verb.

непреходен глагол

grammar: intransitive verb — see also intransitive verb


habitual

en-adj

habitual (comparative more habitual, superlative most habitual)

more habitual (comparative)
most habitual (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English habitual (“of one's inherent disposition”), from Medieval Latin habituālis (“customary; habitual”), from Latin habitus (“character; disposition; habit; physical or emotional condition; attire, dress”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship); analysable as habit + -ual. Habitus is derived from habeō (“to have; to hold; to own; to possess”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs).
The noun is derived from the adjective.

der

In English, for instance, the Habitual Aspect (used to construction) can combine freely with Progressive Aspect, to give such forms as used to be playing.

1976, Bernard Comrie, “Perfective and Imperfective”, in Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics; 2), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 1998, section 1.2.1.1 (Habitual and Other Aspectual Values), page 30

The majority of South Arawak, Pareci-Xingu, and Peruvian Arawak languages have a three-fold aspect distinction: completive (completed, perfective or telic action); progressive (action/state in progress; also a durative meaning); and habitual.

1999, Alexandra Y[urievna] Aikhenvald, “The Arawak Language Family”, in R[obert] M[alcolm] W[ard] Dixon, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, editors, The Amazonian Languages (Cambridge Language Surveys), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, section 6.4 (Other Verbal Categories), page 93

(grammar) Pertaining to an action performed customarily, ordinarily, or usually.


habitual

Since any situation that can be protracted sufficiently in time, or that can be iterated a sufficient number of times over a long enough period – and this means, in effect, almost any situation – can be expressed as a habitual, it follows that habituality is in principle combinable with various other aspectual values, namely those appropriate to the kind of situation that is prolonged or iterated.

Indeed, [Thomas] Givón (1994: 323) suggests the habitual is a 'hybrid modality', sharing some features of realis (higher assertive certainty) and some of irrealis ('lack of specific temporal reference; lack of specific evidence; …').

2001, F[rank] R[obert] Palmer, “Subjunctive and Irrealis”, in Mood and Modality (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics), 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, page 191

Stative verbs such as know and see are not associated with [+perf] since, like habituals, they are associated with a generic operator.

2004, Elly van Gelderen, “Aspect: The Tense Aspect Parameter and Inner to Outer Aspect”, in Grammaticalization as Economy (Linguistik Aktuell = Linguistics Today; 71), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISSN, section 5 (Giorgi & Pianesi: The Demise of the Infinitival Ending and Aspect), page 221

As an expression of the iterative habitual suffixal -s is by no means recent. It is found in emigrant letters from the early nineteenth century. [...] O'Hara's uses as an inflected first person singular as an iterative habitual, e.g. I hopes the [ ] family are well …, I hopes you will except [sic!] my thanks for the same … (Kean O'Hara, 1818–19). This usage is still to be found in east coast varieties of Irish English.

2007, Raymond Hickey, “The Emergence of Irish English”, in Irish English: History and Present-day Forms (Studies in English Language), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, page 216

For example, repeated occurrence (iteratives or ‘habituals’) in English may be signalled by repeatedly or several times (‘He shouted repeatedly’), or it may be part of the meaning of the verb (‘The bird fluttered its wings’).

2007, Howard Jackson, “Grammar: Morphology and Syntax”, in Key Terms in Linguistics, London, New York, N.Y.: Continuum, page 23

(grammar) A construction representing something done habitually.


subject

From Latin subiectus (“a subject, an inferior”), subiectum (“the subject of a proposition”), past participle of subiciō (“throw, lay, place”), from sub (“under, at the foot of”) + iaciō (“throw, hurl”).

In the sentence ‘The cat ate the mouse’, ‘the cat’ is the subject, ‘the mouse’ being the object.

In this passive sentence, the subject (‘the early worm’) is the target of an action: ‘The early worm is caught by the early bird.’

(grammar) The noun, pronoun or noun phrase about whom the statement is made. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject is the actor. In clauses in the passive voice the subject is the target of the action.


future

en-noun

future (countable and uncountable, plural futures)

From Middle English future, futur, from Old French futur, from Latin futūrus, irregular future active participle of sum (“I am”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to become, be”). Cognate with Old English bēo (“I become, I will be, I am”). More at be. Displaced native Old English tōweard and Middle English afterhede (“future”, literally “afterhood”) in the given sense.

noncog

(grammar) Verb tense used to talk about events that will happen in the future; future tense.


accident

en-noun

accident (countable and uncountable, plural accidents)

First attested in the late 14th century. From Middle English accident, from Old French accident, from Latin accidēns, present active participle of accidō (“happen”); from ad (“to”) + cadō (“fall”). See cadence, case. In the sense “unintended pregnancy”, first attested in 1932.

aksident

unexpected event with negative consequences

accident

logic: quality or attribute in distinction from substance

befalling

unexpected event that takes place without foresight or expectation

An adjective, so called because adjectitious, or added to a substantive, denotes some quality or accident of the substantive to which it is joined […]

a 1799, John Parkhurst, A Hebrew and English lexicon without points, page 25

en:philosophical sense, versus essence or substance

Any property, fact, or relation that is the result of chance or is nonessential or nonsubstantive.

(grammar) A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, such as gender, number, or case.


regular

en-adj

regular (comparative more regular, superlative most regular)

more regular (comparative)
most regular (superlative)

/ˈɹɛɡ.jʊ.lə/

/ˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/

[ˈɹɛɡ.jɪ̈.lɚ]

From Middle English reguler, from Anglo-Norman reguler, Middle French reguler, regulier, and their source, Latin rēgulāris (“continuing rules for guidance”), from rēgula (“rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“move in a straight line”).

der

"Walked" is the past tense of the regular verb "to walk".

(grammar, of a verb, plural, etc) Following a set or common pattern; according to the normal rules of a given language.


suffix

Borrowed from Latin suffīxus (“suffix”), from sub- (“under”) + fīxus (perfect passive participle of fīgere (“to fasten, fix”)), equivalent to sub- + -fix.

af

perfect passive participle of <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">fīgere</i> (“to fasten, fix”)

The suffix "-able" changes "sing" into "singable".

(grammar, linguistic morphology) A morpheme added at the end of a word to modify the word's meaning.

Suffix

Suffixum n, Affix n (narrow sense), Affixum n


case

→ Swedish: case n

From Middle English cas, from Old French cas (“an event”), from Latin cāsus (“a falling, a fall; accident, event, occurrence; occasion, opportunity; noun case”), perfect passive participle of cadō (“to fall, to drop”).

der

The accusative case canonically indicates a direct object.  Latin has six cases, and remnants of a seventh.

Now, the Subject of either an indicative or a subjunctive Clause is always assigned Nominative case, as we see from:
(16) (a) I know [that they/*them/*their leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
(16) (b)   I demand [that they/*them/*their leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
By contrast, the Subject of an infinitive Clause is assigned Objective case, as we see from:
(17)   I want [them/*they/*their to leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
And the Subject of a gerund Clause is assigned either Objective or Genitive case: cf.
(18)   I don't like the idea of [them/their/*they leaving for Hawaii tomorrow]

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 292

(grammar) A specific inflection of a word (particularly a noun, pronoun, or adjective) depending on its function in the sentence.

Jane has been studying case in Caucasian languages.  Latin is a language that employs case.

(grammar, uncountable) Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.


AP

en-noun

AP (countable and uncountable, plural APs)

adjective phrase
adjective phrase#English

adverbial phrase
adverbial phrase#English

(grammar, sentence parsing) Initialism of adjective phrase; adverbial phrase. (Note: to disambiguate, one can use the abbreviations AdjP and AdvP instead.)


person

person (plural persons or (by suppletion) people)

persons (plural)
people (plural suppletive)

Nigerian Pidgin: pesin

From Middle English persoun, personne et al., from Anglo-Norman parsone, persoun et al. (Old French persone (“human being”), French personne), and its source Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask”). In this sense, displaced native man, which came to mean primarily "adult male" in Middle English; see Old English mann. Doublet of parson and persona.

der

чолові́к m (čolovík) (now only means male (man) or husband)

yura

specifically a human being — see also human, human being, man

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class III § 372. Mankind

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 3. Substantiality

(grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person.


IA

en-noun

IA (countable and uncountable, plural IAs)

internal argument
internal argument#English

(grammar) Initialism of internal argument.


pronoun

From pro- + noun, modeled on Middle French pronom, from Latin pronomen, itself a calque of Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ντωνῠμῐ́ᾱ (antōnumíā).

The possessive conjunctive pronoun is always repeated before a substantive, and after a conjunction; as my brothers and sisters, mes frères & mes sœurs; […]

1789, Jean Baptiste, A grammar of the French tongue, page 193

Dalia: Why are you playing the pronoun game?
Alyssa: What? What are you talking about? I'm not even.
Dalia: You are. "I met someone." "We have a great time. "They're from my home town." Doesn't this tube of wonderful have a name!

As here the possessive pronoun 'our' has inclusive reference in that it a priori includes both the editor and reader, its presence amounts to a kind of pronominal bonding between writer and reader.

2013, Nicholas Brownless, “Spoken Discourse in Early English Newspapers”, in Joad Raymond, editor, News Networks in Seventeenth Century Britain and Europe, page 72

(grammar) A type of word that refers anaphorically to a noun or noun phrase, but which cannot ordinarily be preceded by a determiner and rarely takes an attributive adjective.


clause

From Middle English clause, claus, borrowed from Old French clause, from Medieval Latin clausa (Latin diminutive clausula (“close, end; a clause, close of a period”)), from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere (“to shut, close”). See close, its doublet.

مُرَكَّبٌ إِسْنَادِيّ

grammar: group of words which include a subject and any necessary predicate

(grammar) A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and any adjuncts affecting them.

However, Coordination facts seem to undermine this hasty conclusion: thus, consider the following:
(43) [Your sister could go to College], but [would she get a degree?]
The second (italicised) conjunct is a Clause containing an inverted Auxiliary, would. Given our earlier assumptions that inverted Auxiliaries are in C, and that C is a constituent of S-bar, it follows that the italicised Clause in (43) must be an S-bar. But our familiar constraint on Coordination tells us that only constituents belonging to the same Category can be conjoined. Since the second Clause in (43) is clearly an S-bar, then it follows that the first Clause must also be an S-bar — one in which the C(omplementiser) position has been left empty.

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 300

(grammar) A verb along with its subject and their modifiers. If a clause provides a complete thought on its own, then it is an independent (superordinate) clause; otherwise, it is (subordinate) dependent.

جُمْلَة

grammar: verb along with a subject and modifiers


juxtaposition

juxtaposition (countable and uncountable, plural juxtapositions)

From French juxtaposition, from Latin iuxtā (“near”) (from Latin iungō (“to join”)) + French position (“position”) (from Latin pōnō (“to place”)).

съпоставяне

the nearness of objects with little or no delimiter

Example: mother father instead of mother and father

The nearness of objects with little or no delimiter.

(grammar) An absence of linking elements in a group of words that are listed together.

juxtaposició

grammar: absence of linking elements in a group of words that are listed together


predicate

From Middle French predicat (French prédicat), from post-classical Late Latin praedicātum (“thing said of a subject”), a noun use of the neuter past participle of praedicō (“I proclaim”), as Etymology 2, below.

der

In the light of this observation, consider Number Agreement in a sentence like:
(120) They seem to me [_S — to be fools/^✽a fool]
Here, the Predicate Nominal fools agrees with the italicised NP they, in spite of the fact that (as we argued earlier) the two are contained in different Clauses at S-structure. How can this be? Under the NP MOVEMENT analysis of seem structures, sentences like (120) pose no problem; if we suppose that they originates in the — position as the subordinate Clause Subject, then we can say that the Predicate Nominal agrees with the underlying Subject of its Clause. How does they get from its underlying position as subordinate Clause Subject to its superficial position as main Clause Subject? By NP MOVEMENT, of course!

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 438

Thus, in (121) (a) persuade is clearly a three-place Predicate — that is, a Predicate which takes three Arguments: the first of these Arguments is the Subject NP John, the second is the Primary Object NP Mary, and the third is the Secondary Object S-bar [that she should resign]. By contrast, believe in (121) (b) is clearly a two-place Predicate (i.e. a Predicate which has two Arguments): its first Argument is the Subject NP John, and its second Argument is the Object S-bar [that Mary was innocent].

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 323

(grammar) The part of the sentence (or clause) which states a property that a subject has or is characterized by.

kallëzues

grammar: part of sentence that states something about its subject


predicate

en-adj

predicate (comparative more predicate, superlative most predicate)

more predicate (comparative)
most predicate (superlative)

(grammar) Of or related to the predicate of a sentence or clause.

сказу́емен

grammar: of or related to the predicate of a sentence or clause


predicate

en-verb

predicate (third-person singular simple present predicates, present participle predicating, simple past and past participle predicated)

predicates (present singular third-person)
predicating (participle present)
predicated (participle past)
predicated (past)

From Latin praedicātus, perfect passive participle of praedicō (“publish, declare, proclaim”), from prae + dicō (“proclaim, dedicate”), related to dīcō (“say, tell”). Doublet of preach.

(transitive, grammar) To make a term (or expression) the predicate of a statement.

whakapaparangi

to make a term (or expression) the predicate of a statement


island

From earlier iland, from Middle English iland, yland, ylond, from Old English īeġland, from Proto-West Germanic *auwjuland, from Proto-Germanic *awjōlandą (from Proto-Germanic *awjō (“island, waterland, meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂) + *landą (“land”), equivalent to ey + land.
Doublet of Öland. Cognate with Scots island, iland, yland (“island”), West Frisian eilân (“island”), Saterland Frisian Ailound (“island”), Dutch eiland (“island”), Low German Eiland (“island”), German Eiland (“island”), Swedish ö (“island”), Öland (“Sweden's second largest island”), Danish ø (“island”), Norwegian øy (“island”), øyland (“large island”), Icelandic eyland (“island”).
The insertion of ⟨s⟩—a 16th century spelling modification—is due to a change in spelling to the unrelated term isle, which previously lacked s (cf. Middle English ile, yle). The re-addition was mistakenly carried over to include iland as well. Related also to German Aue (“water-meadow”), Latin aqua (“water”). More at ea.

адгьылбжьаха

area of land completely surrounded by water

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Adverbial subordinate clauses are islands for extraction: "They have a billion dollars of inventory that they don't know where *(it) is".

(grammar) A phrase from which a wh-word cannot be extracted without yielding invalid grammar.


phrase

From Late Latin phrasis (“diction”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “manner of expression”), from φράζω (phrázō, “I tell, express”).

Congratulations on managing to use the phrase “preponderant criterion” in a chart (“On your marks”, November 9th). Was this the work of a kakorrhaphiophobic journalist set a challenge by his colleagues, or simply an example of glossolalia?

2013 November 30, Paul Davis, “Letters: Say it as simply as possible”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8864

(grammar) A word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, usually consisting of a head, or central word, and elaborating words.

frazë

grammar: group of two or more words that express an idea but do not form a complete sentence

csoport or szerkezet

following an adjective that specifies it


accomplishment

en-noun

accomplishment (countable and uncountable, plural accomplishments)

* First attested in the early 15th century.
* (completes, perfects, equips): First attested around 1600.
* accomplish + -ment
* Borrowed from French accomplissement, from accomplir

Thus it is attested that some children have taken an accomplishment verb like disappear, which does not have a causative counterpart, and used it as a causative accomplishment in sentences like He disappeared it, i.e. ‘He made it disappear.’

1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax, pages 183-84

(grammar, semantics) The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change over time until a natural end point.


perfect

en-adj

perfect (comparative perfecter or more perfect, superlative perfectest or most perfect)

perfecter (comparative)
more perfect (comparative)
perfectest (superlative)
most perfect (superlative)

flawed

antonym(s) of “fitting its definition precisely”

faulty

antonym(s) of “without fault or mistake”

From Middle English perfit, from Old French parfit (modern: parfait), from Latin perfectus, perfect passive participle of perficere (“to finish”), from per- (“through, thorough”) + facere (“to do, to make”). Spelling modified 15c. to conform to Latin etymology. Doublet of parfait.
Displaced native Old English fulfremed.

let the perfect be the enemy of the good

(grammar, of a tense or verb form) Representing a completed action.

зако́нчаны

grammar: of a tense or verb form: representing a completed action


perfect

(grammar) The perfect tense, or a form in that tense.


activity

en-noun

activity (countable and uncountable, plural activities)

From Middle French activité, from Latin activitas. Equivalent to active + -ity.

[…]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 over time and have no natural end point.


preposition

/ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/

From Middle English preposicioun, from Old French preposicion, from Latin praepositio, praepositionem, from praepono (“to place before”), equivalent to pre- + position. Compare French préposition. So called because it is placed before the word with which it is phrased, as in a bridge of iron, he comes from town, it is good for food, he escaped by running.

And in (121) below, we see that when a wh-NP is used as the Object of a Preposition, the whole Prepositional Phrase can undergo WH MOVEMENT:
(121) (a) [To whom] can I send this letter —?
(121) (b) [About what] are they quarrelling —?
(121) (c) [In which book] did you read about it —?

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 9, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 495

I love this girl. “On which I can get my hands” — even in her darkest moment, she cannot bring herself to end a sentence with a preposition.

2014 June 1, “Net Neutrality”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 5, John Oliver (actor), via HBO

(grammar, strict sense) Any of a class of non-inflecting words and multiword terms typically employed to connect a following noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word: a particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other word.

voorsetsel

grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"

ဝိဘတ် (wi.bhat) (postpositional marker, equivalent of a preposition in Burmese)


voice

→ Russian: войс (vojs) (slang, from "voice message")

From Middle English voice, voys, vois, borrowed from Anglo-Norman voiz, voys, voice, Old French vois, voiz (Modern French voix), from Latin vōcem, accusative form of vōx (“voice”), from Proto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs, root noun from *wekʷ- (“to utter, speak”). Cognate with Sanskrit वाच् (vāc), Ancient Greek ὄψ (óps), Persian آواز (âvâz). Displaced native Middle English steven (“voice”) (from Old English stefn (see steven)), Old English hlēoþor, and Old English woþ. Broadly overtook Old English reord. Compare advocate, advowson, avouch, convoke, epic, vocal, vouch, vowel. Doublet of vox.

the voice of the people, the voice of God

The verbal system of Latin has two voices, active and passive.

There are four tenses of the subjunctive (present, perfect, imperfect, and pluperfect) and three voices (active, passive, and deponent). [...] See 12.8 for the formation of the deponent voice.

2012, Drew Arlen Mannetter, I Came, I Saw, I Translated, page 197

(grammar) A particular way of inflecting or conjugating verbs, or a particular form of a verb, by means of which is indicated the relation of the subject of the verb to the action which the verb expresses.

սեռ

grammar: particular mode of inflecting or conjugating verbs


past participle

past participle (plural past participles)

(grammar) A participle indicating a completed action or state.


participle

/ˈpɑɹtɪˌsɪpəl/

From Middle English participle, from Old French participle (1388), variant of participe, from Latin participium.

(grammar) A form of a verb that may function as an adjective, noun or adverb. English has two types of participles: the present participle and the past participle. In other languages, there are others, such as future, perfect, and future perfect participles.


part of speech

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-part of speech.wav

From Middle English parte of spech, a calque of Latin pars ōrātiōnis.

PARTS OF SPEECH. There are ten parts of speech, viz. Article, Substantive or Noun, Adjective, Numeral, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction, and Interjection.

1828, Charles Follen, A Practical Grammar of the German Language, Boston, page 9

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

1844, E. A. Andrews, First Lessions in Latin; or Introduction to Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar, 6th edition, Boston, page 91

One group of substantives, the gerunds (scolding), belongs to a form-class with infinitives and with other verb-forms, in serving as head for certain types of modifiers, such as a goal (scolding the boys). For this reason a system of parts of speech in a language like English cannot be set up in any fully satisfactory way: our list of parts of speech will depend upon which functions we take to be the most important.

1933, Leonard Bloomfield, Language, page 269

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

2008 (1894), B. L. Gildersleeve & G. Lodge, Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar, third edition, reprint by Dover, p.9

Following this, coding was added to delineate multiple senses within entries and nested terms within entries; then part of speech labels were added for every sense[.]

2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 489

(grammar) A linguistic category of words sharing syntactic or morphological behaviour and semantic properties, such as noun or verb.


inflect

en-verb

inflect (third-person singular simple present inflects, present participle inflecting, simple past and past participle inflected)

inflects (present singular third-person)
inflecting (participle present)
inflected (participle past)
inflected (past)

From Latin īnflectō, from in- (“in”) + flectō (“I bend”).

(transitive, grammar) To vary the form of a word to express tense, gender, number, mood, etc.

In Latin, adjectives and nouns inflect a lot, but inflection is minimally found in Modern English.

(transitive, grammar, of a word) To be varied in the form to express tense, gender, number, mood, etc.


gerund

From Latin gerundium, from gerendus (“which is to be carried out”), future passive participle (gerundive) of gerō (“carry, bear”).

Compounds in which gerunds are the second element look exactly like compounds in which present participles are the second element, but different principles of hyphenation apply.

1991, Edward Johnson, The Handbook of Good English, page 208

Like any noun, the gerund functions as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, or predicate nominative. The gerund phrase is made up of the present participle ("-ing") and can contain an object and/or a modifier (and sometimes many modifiers). The gerund is a verbal noun.

2002, Dan Mulvey, Grammar the Easy Way, page 25

Gerunds and gerund phrases are always nouns, so they are always predicate nominatives when used as complements. Do be careful to distinguish progressive-tense verbs from gerunds used as subjective complements.

2005, Gary Lutz, Diane Stevenson, The Writer's Digest Grammar Desk Reference, page 55

(grammar) A verbal form that functions as a verbal noun. (In English, a gerund has the same spelling as a present participle, but functions differently; however, this distinction may be ambiguous or unclear and so is no longer made in some modern texts such as A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language and The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language)

The Spanish gerund is quite unlike the English -ing form (‘walking’, ‘replying’, ‘saying’, etc.), which can function as a gerund, a present participle, a noun or an adjective; and it is also unlike the French form ending in -ant, which covers the functions of both the Spanish gerund and the adjectival form in -ante, -(i)ente discussed at 19.4.

2013, John Butt, Carmen Benjamin, A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish, Kindle edition, Routledge

adverbial participle
adverbial participle

(grammar) In some languages such as Dutch, Italian or Russian, a verbal form similar to a present participle, but functioning as an adverb to form adverbial phrases or continuous tense. These constructions have various names besides gerund, depending on the language, such as conjunctive participles, active participles, adverbial participles, transgressives, etc.


frozen

en-adj

frozen (comparative more frozen, superlative most frozen)

more frozen (comparative)
most frozen (superlative)

From Middle English frozen, frosen, ifrozen, variant of froren, ifroren ("frozen"; > see frorn), past participle of Middle English fresen, freosen (“to freeze”). By surface analysis, freeze + -n.

"Dice" is a frozen plural.

(grammar) Retaining an older, obsolete syntax of an earlier version of a language, which now operates only on a specific word or phrase.


syntax

en-noun

syntax (countable and uncountable, plural syntaxes)

Partly from Late Latin syntaxis and partly from its etymon, Ancient Greek σύνταξις (súntaxis), from σύν (sún, “together”) + τάξις (táxis, “arrangement”), from τάσσω (tássō, “I arrange”). Doublet of syntaxis.

(computing, countable) The formal rules of formulating the statements of a computer language.


inflected

en-adj

inflected (comparative more inflected, superlative most inflected)

more inflected (comparative)
most inflected (superlative)

(grammar) Changed in form to reflect function (referring to a word).


inflection

en-noun

inflection (countable and uncountable, plural inflections)

From older inflexion, borrowed from Middle French inflexion, itself borrowed from Latin inflexiōnem (“alteration”, literally “bending”). The English spelling with ⟨ct⟩ is due to influence from inflect or related words like correction.

der

In English, word order often does the work that inflection did in Latin

(grammar, uncountable) A change in the form of a word (morphologic change) to express different grammatical categories.

eptim

change in the form of a word that reflects a change in grammatical function

an inflection for gender, number, or tense

(grammar, countable) An instance of such change.

English's regular inflection for number in plural nouns is the suffix -s.

(grammar) An affix representing such an instance.

An instance of such change.
An affix representing such an instance.

Recite every inflection for each of these words.

(grammar, countable) Any form produced by such an instance of a change, such as the principal parts for any given stem: any of the declined or conjugated forms that constitute its declension or conjugation.


morphology

en-noun

morphology (countable and uncountable, plural morphologies)

morfologie

a scientific study of form and structure

марфало́гія

geological study of the form and structure

morfologji

linguistic study of the form and structure

Mathematical morphology
mathematical morphology

(uncountable) A scientific study of form and structure, usually without regard to function. Especially:


pronominal

en-adj

pronominal (comparative more pronominal, superlative most pronominal)

more pronominal (comparative)
most pronominal (superlative)

/pɹəʊˈnɒmɪnəl/

From Late Latin prōnōminālis, from Latin prōnōmen, prōnōminis.

Neither of these pronominal compounds was found in current sources.

2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 120

(linguistics, grammar) Of, pertaining to, resembling, or functioning as a pronoun.


pronominal

/pɹəʊˈnɒmɪnəl/

(grammar) A phrase that acts as a pronoun.


comparison

en-noun

comparison (countable and uncountable, plural comparisons)

From Middle English comparisoun, from Old French comparison, from Latin comparātiō, from comparātus, perfect passive participle of comparō.

vergelyking

act of comparing or the state of being compared

In English, adjectives and adverbs have three forms when making a comparison: the plain form "hot", the comparative form "hotter", and the superlative form "hottest".

(grammar) A feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe.


increment

/ˈɪŋkɹɪmn̩t/

From Middle English encrement, increment, from Latin incrēmentum, from incrēscō (whence increase), from in- + crēscō (“grow”). Equivalent to increase + -ment.

(grammar) A syllable in excess of the number of the nominative singular or the second-person singular present indicative.


sentence

Borrowing from Middle French sentence, from Latin sententia (“way of thinking, opinion, sentiment”), from sentiēns, present participle of sentiō (“to feel, think”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).

der

The children were made to construct sentences consisting of nouns and verbs from the list on the chalkboard.

(grammar) A grammatically complete series of words consisting of a subject and predicate, even if one or the other is implied. In modern writing, when using e.g. the Latin, Greek or Cyrillic alphabets, typically beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full stop or other punctuation.


actor

head

actor (plural actors, female actress, or (nonstandard) actoress)

actors (plural)
actress (feminine)
actoress (nonstandard)

→ Scottish Gaelic: actair

→ Welsh: actor

Inherited from Middle English actour, from Anglo-Norman actor, Middle French actor, and their source, Latin āctor (“doer”), from agō (“to do”). Equivalent to act + -or. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἄκτωρ (áktōr, “leader”), from ἄγω (ágō, “lead, carry, convey, bring”).

(grammar) The subject performing the action of a verb.


verbal

implied

antonym(s) of “expressly spoken or written”

From Old French verbal, from Late Latin verbālis (“belonging to a word”). Equivalent to verb + -al.

der

(grammar) Derived from, or having the nature of a verb.

foljor

derived from, or having the nature of a verb


verbal

en-noun

verbal (countable and uncountable, plural verbals)

(countable, grammar) A verb form which does not function as a predicate, or a word derived from a verb. In English, infinitives, participles and gerunds are verbals.


diminutive

en-adj

diminutive (comparative more diminutive, superlative most diminutive)

more diminutive (comparative)
most diminutive (superlative)

From Middle French diminutif (1398), from Latin dīminutīvum, from dēminuō (“diminish”).

(grammar) Of or pertaining to, or creating a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.


diminutive

Booklet, the diminutive of book, means ‘small book’.

But I was frightfully fond of the universe and wanted to address it by a diminutive. I often did so; and it never seemed to mind.

When we come to occupative names, we are again confronted by crowds of diminutives.

1916, Ernest Weekley, Surnames, page 287

(grammar) A word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.


common

common (comparative commoner or more common, superlative commonest or most common)

commoner (comparative)
more common (comparative)
commonest (superlative)
most common (superlative)

rare

antonym(s) of “occurring in large numbers or in a large quantity”

From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Proto-West Germanic *gamainī (“common”) in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s (“held in common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, change”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen (“in common, together”) (from Old English samen (“together”)). Doublet of gmina.

cog

gender of coalescence of masculine of feminine

(grammar) Of, pertaining or belonging to the common gender.

epicè

grammar: of the gender resulting from the coalescence of the masculine and feminine genders

feminine

(grammar) Of or pertaining to common nouns as opposed to proper nouns.


understand

en-verb

understand (third-person singular simple present understands, present participle understanding, simple past and past participle understood)

understands (present singular third-person)
understanding (participle present)
understood (participle past)
understood (past)
understand (infinitive)

[ˌʌɾ̃ɚˈstæ̃nd]

[ˌʌɾ̃ɚˈsteə̯nd]

From Middle English understanden, from Old English understandan (“to understand”), from Proto-West Germanic *understandan (“to stand between, understand”), from Proto-Germanic *understandaną (“to stand between, understand”), equivalent to Old English under- (“between, inter-”) + standan (“to stand”) (Modern English under- + stand). Cognate with Old Frisian understonda (“to understand, experience, learn”), Old High German understantan (“to understand”), Middle Danish understande (“to understand”). Compare also Saterland Frisian understunda, unnerstounde (“to dare, survey, measure”), Dutch onderstaan (“to undertake, presume”), German unterstehen (“to be subordinate”).

cog

In the imperative mood, the word “you” is usually understood.

(transitive, grammar) To regard as present when not.


agreement

en-noun

agreement (countable and uncountable, plural agreements)

/əˈɡɹiːmənt/

From Middle English agrement, agreement, from Old French agrement, agreement. Morphologically agree + -ment.

Having clarified what we mean by ‘Personʼ and ‘Numberʼ, we can now return to our earlier observation that a finite I is inflected not only for Tense, but also for Agreement. More particularly, I inflects for Person and Number, and must ‘agreeʼ with its Subject, in the sense that the Person/Number features of I must match those of the Subject.

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 306

(uncountable, linguistics, grammar) Rules that exist in many languages that force some parts of a sentence to be used or inflected differently depending on certain attributes of other parts.


decline

en-verb

decline (third-person singular simple present declines, present participle declining, simple past and past participle declined)

declines (present singular third-person)
declining (participle present)
declined (participle past)
declined (past)
decline (infinitive)

From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from de (“down”) + clīnō (“I bend, I incline”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean). The senses arrived from two separate pathways in Middle English:
* The grammatical sense came from Old English declīnian, which was borrowed directly from the Latin etymon.
* All senses except the grammatical sense were derived from those of Old French decliner. Old French itself borrowed the verb from Latin.

der

(transitive, grammar, usually of substantives, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.

after the first declining of a noun and a verb

1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, 1st edition

(transitive, grammar) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.