"engram" meaning in English

See engram in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈɛnˌɡɹæm/, /ˈɛŋˌɡɹæm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-engram.wav Forms: engrams [plural]
Etymology: Borrowed from German Engramm which was coined by German evolutionary biologist Richard Semon in 1904. First attested in English in 1921 (see quotation below). Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) + γράμμα (grámma, “writing, picture”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|de|Engramm}} German Engramm, {{der|en|grc|ἐν|t=in}} Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} engram (plural engrams)
  1. A postulated physical or biochemical change in neural tissue that represents a memory. Translations (postulated change in neural tissue): muistijälki (Finnish), Engramm [neuter] (German), έγγραμμα (éngramma) [neuter] (Greek), engrama [masculine] (Spanish), minnesspår [neuter] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-engram-en-noun-uAzjaUFO Disambiguation of 'postulated change in neural tissue': 81 19
  2. (Scientology) A painful, negative mental image representing a past event. Categories (topical): Scientology, Pseudoscience Translations (Scientology: negative mental image): engrammi (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-engram-en-noun-5DocV4MS Disambiguation of Pseudoscience: 44 56 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Greek translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 32 68 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 17 83 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 30 70 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 28 72 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 21 79 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 21 79 Disambiguation of Terms with Greek translations: 37 63 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 24 76 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 24 76 Topics: Scientology, lifestyle, religion Disambiguation of 'Scientology: negative mental image': 9 91
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: engramme

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Engramm"
      },
      "expansion": "German Engramm",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "ἐν",
        "t": "in"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from German Engramm which was coined by German evolutionary biologist Richard Semon in 1904. First attested in English in 1921 (see quotation below). Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) + γράμμα (grámma, “writing, picture”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "engrams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "engram (plural engrams)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1921 January, Richard Semon, “II (Engraphic Action of Stimuli on the Individual)”, in Louis Simon, transl., The Mneme, Cornell University Library, published 2005, page 24:",
          "text": "I use the word engram to denote this permanent change wrought by a stimulus; the sum of such engrams in an organism may be called its \"engram-store,\" among which must distinguish inherited from acquired engrams.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A postulated physical or biochemical change in neural tissue that represents a memory."
      ],
      "id": "en-engram-en-noun-uAzjaUFO",
      "links": [
        [
          "postulate",
          "postulate"
        ],
        [
          "physical",
          "physical"
        ],
        [
          "biochemical",
          "biochemical"
        ],
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ],
        [
          "neural",
          "neural"
        ],
        [
          "tissue",
          "tissue"
        ],
        [
          "represent",
          "represent"
        ],
        [
          "memory",
          "memory"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
          "word": "muistijälki"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Engramm"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "éngramma",
          "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "έγγραμμα"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "engrama"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "minnesspår"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Scientology",
          "orig": "en:Scientology",
          "parents": [
            "Religion",
            "Culture",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 70",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 72",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 79",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 79",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 63",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Greek translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "44 56",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Pseudoscience",
          "orig": "en:Pseudoscience",
          "parents": [
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A painful, negative mental image representing a past event."
      ],
      "id": "en-engram-en-noun-5DocV4MS",
      "links": [
        [
          "Scientology",
          "Scientology"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Scientology) A painful, negative mental image representing a past event."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "Scientology",
        "lifestyle",
        "religion"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Scientology: negative mental image",
          "word": "engrammi"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɛnˌɡɹæm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɛŋˌɡɹæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-engram.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Wodencafe-engram.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Wodencafe-engram.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Wodencafe-engram.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Wodencafe-engram.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "n-gram"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "engramme"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Engram",
    "Richard Semon"
  ],
  "word": "engram"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from German",
    "English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
    "English terms derived from German",
    "English terms with homophones",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Greek translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations",
    "en:Pseudoscience"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Engramm"
      },
      "expansion": "German Engramm",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "ἐν",
        "t": "in"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from German Engramm which was coined by German evolutionary biologist Richard Semon in 1904. First attested in English in 1921 (see quotation below). Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) + γράμμα (grámma, “writing, picture”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "engrams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "engram (plural engrams)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1921 January, Richard Semon, “II (Engraphic Action of Stimuli on the Individual)”, in Louis Simon, transl., The Mneme, Cornell University Library, published 2005, page 24:",
          "text": "I use the word engram to denote this permanent change wrought by a stimulus; the sum of such engrams in an organism may be called its \"engram-store,\" among which must distinguish inherited from acquired engrams.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A postulated physical or biochemical change in neural tissue that represents a memory."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "postulate",
          "postulate"
        ],
        [
          "physical",
          "physical"
        ],
        [
          "biochemical",
          "biochemical"
        ],
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ],
        [
          "neural",
          "neural"
        ],
        [
          "tissue",
          "tissue"
        ],
        [
          "represent",
          "represent"
        ],
        [
          "memory",
          "memory"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Scientology"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A painful, negative mental image representing a past event."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Scientology",
          "Scientology"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Scientology) A painful, negative mental image representing a past event."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "Scientology",
        "lifestyle",
        "religion"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɛnˌɡɹæm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɛŋˌɡɹæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-engram.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Wodencafe-engram.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Wodencafe-engram.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Wodencafe-engram.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Wodencafe-engram.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "n-gram"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "engramme"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
      "word": "muistijälki"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Engramm"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "éngramma",
      "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "έγγραμμα"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "engrama"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "postulated change in neural tissue",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "minnesspår"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Scientology: negative mental image",
      "word": "engrammi"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Engram",
    "Richard Semon"
  ],
  "word": "engram"
}

Download raw JSONL data for engram meaning in English (3.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-10-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (eaa6b66 and a709d4b). 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.