"book word" meaning in English

See book word in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: book words [plural]
Etymology: From book + word. Etymology templates: {{com|en|book|word}} book + word Head templates: {{en-noun}} book word (plural book words)
  1. (linguistics) A word that is encountered in writing but not usually in speech, which people may therefore not know how to pronounce (correctly). Categories (topical): Linguistics
    Sense id: en-book_word-en-noun-CWR1~qRV Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
  2. (linguistics) A word that is borrowed into a vernacular from a closely related literary language, thus being etymologically related to native vocabulary, but not showing regular sound changes. Categories (topical): Linguistics
    Sense id: en-book_word-en-noun-CfFXotIQ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 38 62 Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: book-word, bookword Related terms: learned borrowing

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for book word meaning in English (3.2kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "book",
        "3": "word"
      },
      "expansion": "book + word",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From book + word.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "book words",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "book word (plural book words)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "learned borrowing"
    }
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          "kind": "topical",
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          "name": "Linguistics",
          "orig": "en:Linguistics",
          "parents": [
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            "Social sciences",
            "Communication",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1871, Alexander John Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, with Especial Reference to Shakspere ...",
          "text": "The second, being a ‘book word,’ has quite an artificial pronunciation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Dale F. Coye, Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words: A Guide from A to Zounds, page 7",
          "text": "Book words—words that are found most often in writing but are rarely spoken—change as well but in a somewhat different way. When the communal memory of a word's pronunciation has been lost, or when speakers who have never heard a book word pronounced attempt it, then spelling will play a key role in determining the new pronunciation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A word that is encountered in writing but not usually in speech, which people may therefore not know how to pronounce (correctly)."
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      "id": "en-book_word-en-noun-CWR1~qRV",
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        [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(linguistics) A word that is encountered in writing but not usually in speech, which people may therefore not know how to pronounce (correctly)."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ]
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    {
      "categories": [
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            "Social sciences",
            "Communication",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "38 62",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "French loyal and légal are both from Latin lēgālis. While the former was inherited, the latter is a book word.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A word that is borrowed into a vernacular from a closely related literary language, thus being etymologically related to native vocabulary, but not showing regular sound changes."
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      "id": "en-book_word-en-noun-CfFXotIQ",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(linguistics) A word that is borrowed into a vernacular from a closely related literary language, thus being etymologically related to native vocabulary, but not showing regular sound changes."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "book-word"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "bookword"
    }
  ],
  "word": "book word"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns"
  ],
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      "args": {
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        "2": "book",
        "3": "word"
      },
      "expansion": "book + word",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From book + word.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "book words",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "book word (plural book words)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "learned borrowing"
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        "en:Linguistics"
      ],
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        {
          "ref": "1871, Alexander John Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, with Especial Reference to Shakspere ...",
          "text": "The second, being a ‘book word,’ has quite an artificial pronunciation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Dale F. Coye, Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words: A Guide from A to Zounds, page 7",
          "text": "Book words—words that are found most often in writing but are rarely spoken—change as well but in a somewhat different way. When the communal memory of a word's pronunciation has been lost, or when speakers who have never heard a book word pronounced attempt it, then spelling will play a key role in determining the new pronunciation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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        "A word that is encountered in writing but not usually in speech, which people may therefore not know how to pronounce (correctly)."
      ],
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          "linguistics",
          "linguistics"
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        [
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        "(linguistics) A word that is encountered in writing but not usually in speech, which people may therefore not know how to pronounce (correctly)."
      ],
      "topics": [
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        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
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    {
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        "en:Linguistics"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "French loyal and légal are both from Latin lēgālis. While the former was inherited, the latter is a book word.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A word that is borrowed into a vernacular from a closely related literary language, thus being etymologically related to native vocabulary, but not showing regular sound changes."
      ],
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        [
          "linguistics",
          "linguistics"
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        "(linguistics) A word that is borrowed into a vernacular from a closely related literary language, thus being etymologically related to native vocabulary, but not showing regular sound changes."
      ],
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        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "book-word"
    },
    {
      "word": "bookword"
    }
  ],
  "word": "book word"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.