Acase that originally indicated separation but often acquired many other uses in some languages. It is used alone or with certainprepositions. For example, if English had a fullyproductive case system, thenthe city orfrom the city in "came from the city" andcare orwith care in "handle with care" would likely be in the ablative.
Acase that is usually used as thedirect object of averb. For example, if English had a fullyproductive case system, thenball in "The man threw the ball" would most likely be in the accusative.
A noun that denotes an agent who does the action denoted by the verb from which the noun is derived, such as "cutter" derived from "to cut".
AHD
"American Heritage Dictionary". For historical reasons, this abbreviation is sometimes used here to identify a respelled pronunciation that is given inenPR form.
Either transitive or intransitive. For instance,eat andread optionally take a direct object: "I eat daily", "She likes to read" (both intransitive), "Read this book", "I do not eat meat" (both transitive). Note: Althoughergative verbs are ambitransitive, a single definition could only refer to an unergative verb.
No longer in general use, but still found in some contemporary texts (such as Bible translations) and generally understood (but rarely used) by educated people. For example,thee andthou are archaic pronouns, having been completely superseded byyou.Archaic is a stronger term thandated, but not as strong asobsolete.
A member of a small group of determiners that are central to a language. In English, the articles arethe (thedefinite article),a (theindefinite article), andan (a special form ofa), as well as (by some theories) a "null article" that is frequently implied but never expressed; other languages frequently have more articles (such as French, which by one reckoning has ten) or fewer (such as Hebrew, which only has one, or Latin, which has none at all, not counting the null article).
A dictionary entry (that is,article andentry are mostly interchangeable in this sense).
In French, an initial<h> that is treated as a consonant; that is to say,liaison andelision are not permitted at the beginning of a word with an aspirated h.
A term formed by removing an apparent or real prefix or suffix from an older term; for example, the nounpea arose because the final/z/ sound inpease sounded like a plural suffix. Similarly, the verbedit is a back-formation from the earlier nouneditor. Not to be confused withclipping, which just shortens a word without changing meaning or part of speech.
Before the Common Era. Year-numbering system equivalent toBC. To automatically switch most dates to use the "BC"/"AD" style, visitWT:Per-browser preferences.
A word or name that starts with the start of one word and ends with the end of another, such assmog (fromsmoke andfog) orWiktionary (fromwiki anddictionary). Many blends areportmanteaus.
"Circa" ("about"). Hence, a quotation from "c. 1924" or "ca. 1924" is a quotation from approximately 1924.
c
"Ofcommongender". Some languages have a distinct common gender that combinesmasculine andfeminine but is distinguished fromneuter. In others languages, a "noun of common gender" isepicene; that is, it is a pair of nouns, one masculine and one feminine, that are identical in form, and that have the same sense except that one refers to men and the other to women.
A collection of entries, used to categorize or group entries of words that are similar in syntax (for example, English plural nouns) or in sense (for example, English words pertaining to sports);seeWiktionary:Categorization.
A word that attaches to a phrase and cannot be used on its own, such as English-'s. Many languages have cliticpronouns, which may be contrasted withemphatic orstrong pronouns; for example, English'em is a clitic version ofthem, and always attaches to the preceding word (usually theverb).
Used primarily in casual conversation rather than in moreformal written works, speeches, and discourse. Compare similar taginformal.
Note: It is a common misconception thatcolloquial somehow denotes "location" or a word being "regional". This is not the case; the word root forcolloquial is related tolocution, notlocation.
(of an adjective or adverb) able to be compared, havingcomparative andsuperlative forms that end in-er and-est (adjectives only), or in conjunction with the wordsmore ormost, or in some casesfurther orfurthest. Examples:big,bigger, andbiggest;talented,more talented, andmost talented;upstairs,further upstairs, andfurthest upstairs. Some adjectives are trulyuncomparable, such asdaily,additional, andelse. Many other adjectives, such asunique,existential, andbearable are generally considered uncomparable, but controversially so, where examples can be readily cited of something being "more bearable" or "most perfect".
An inflection, or different form, of acomparable adjective showing a relative quality, usually denoting "to a greater extent" but not "to the ultimate extent" (see alsosuperlative anddegrees of comparison). In English, thecomparative form is usually formed by appending-er, or using the wordmore. For example, the comparative ofhard is "harder"; ofdifficult, "more difficult".
Describes a noun which can be freely used with theindefinite article (a oran in English) and with numbers, and which therefore has aplural form. Antonym:uncountable, ormass noun.
"Dative". Acase that is usually used as theindirect object of a verb. For example, if English had a fullyproductive case system, thenhim in "She gave him the ball" would most likely be in the dative.
Formerly in common use, and still in occasional use, but now unfashionable; for example,wireless in the sense of "broadcast radio tuner",groovy, andgay in the sense of "bright" or "happy" could all be considered dated.Dated is not so strong asarchaic orobsolete; seeWiktionary:Obsolete and archaic terms.
refers to forms of words that present something as known, identified, or immediately identifiable; in English, this is the basic meaning of thearticlethe; in some languages, this is a nominal or adjectivalinflection.
A noun modifier that expresses the in-context reference or quantity of a noun or noun phrase. Determiners are often considered adjectives, but in fact are not quite the same; for example, in English,big is an adjective, so “the big car” is grammatical while *“He saw big car” is not, butsome is a determiner, so *“the some car” is not grammatical while “He saw some car” is. In English, adjectives cansometimes stand alone without a noun, while determiners nearlyalways can (contrast *“He saw big” with “He saw some”), such that they are sometimes considered pronouns as well as adjectives.
(of a verb) taking two objects, such asgive in “Give me the ball” (whereme is an indirect object andthe ball is a direct object). Compareintransitive andtransitive.
"Editor". This abbreviation is often used in attributing quotations; the editor of a compilation is generally the individual in charge of selecting what works to include.
Taking particular stress. English's reflexive pronouns double as emphatic ones, as in "I myself have not seen it" (where "myself" emphasizes the role of the speaker); other languages often have emphatic pronouns that they distinguish fromweak orclitic pronouns.
Optionally taking a direct object that is semantically equivalent to the subject in the intransitive construction. For example, the same thing happens to the window in "The window broke" (subject) as in "I broke the window" (direct object), sobreak is an ergative verb.
"Feminine"; said of a word belonging to the femininegender, which is usually contrasted with the masculine gender, and also often with a neuter gender.
Describes a context where those conversing, through speech or written word, are well acquainted with one another and in casual situations often use moreinformal orcolloquial terms to communicate.
Denoting forms of a word that are grouped together because of an important shared characteristic which is not shared by forms in the other group(s). Spellings may be grouped by the different pronunciations they represent (as forsny2), by inflexional differences (as forfinocchio), or for a variety of etymological (e.g.thrombendarteriectomy) or other reasons.
Describes a context where word choice andsyntax are primarily limited to those terms and constructions that are accepted byacademia or official institutions as most appropriate and correct.Informal terms, frequently those that originate through casual speech (colloquial), are often inappropriate in formal contexts. Examples with varying degrees of formality include: official or legal documents, formal essays, job interviews, etc.
A way of classifyingnouns in some languages. In such languages, each noun has a specific gender (often determined by its meaning and/or form), and other words (especiallyadjectives andpronouns) will often change form to agree with the noun's gender.
Any of various non-finiteverb forms in various languages. In English, a "gerund" is a verb in its-ing form when used in a way that resembles the use of anoun.
Used to refer to past objects and concepts. Such terms referring to things that no longer exist or are no longer in use, such asCzechoslovakia orstomacher, or concepts that are no longer current, such asphlogiston.
Incorrect because of the misapplication of a standard rule; for example,octopi used as the plural form ofoctopus is hypercorrect because-us →-i is the rule for forming plurals oforiginally-masculine nouns of the Latin second declension, whereasoctopus actually derives from Ancient Greek, and to be consistent with its etymology has the plural formoctopodes.
The splitting of a word across a line boundary, with a hyphen at the end of the first part. For example, the hyphenation ofhyphenation is given as "hy‧phen‧ation" meaning that it is split across a line break ashy-phenation or ashyphen-ation.
Pertaining or conforming to the mode of expression characteristic of a language. Idioms,collocations, andmodal verbs are examples of idiomatic language.
Progressive. Theaspect of a verb, indicating that the action described is, was or will be continuing, uncompleted or repeated. A combination of 'be' + the present participle ('-ing' form) of the verb. So one can have present imperfect(ive) (or progressive, or continuous) e.g., "is painting" or past imperfect(ive)– e.g., "was painting". (Contrastperfective.)
imperfective past
A verb form ofimperfectiveaspect andpasttense, which is used to describe an action or event which was happening continuously or repeatedly in the past, as in “Tom was painting the fence” or “Tom used to paint the fence.”
A verb that cannot take a subject, or takes a third-person subject pronoun (e.g.it) without anantecedent. The termweather verb is also sometimes used in some texts, since such verbs of weather (e.g.rain) are impersonal in many languages.
refers to forms of words that present something as not yet identified or not immediately identifiable; in English, this is the basic meaning of thearticlea; in some languages, this is a nominal or adjectivalinflection.
Denotes spoken or written words that are used primarily in afamiliar, or casual, context, where a clear, formal equivalent often exists that is employed in its place informal contexts. Compare similar tagcolloquial.
The change in form of a word to represent various grammatical categories, such astense (e.g. past tense, present tense, future tense) ornumber (e.g. singular, plural). For example, the verbrun may be inflected to produceruns,ran, andrunning. In highly inflected languages, such as Latin, there will be many more forms. Two major types of inflection areconjugation (inflection ofverbs) anddeclension (inflection ofnouns,adjectives, andpronouns).
Anabbreviation that is formed from the initial letters of a sequence of words. Initialisms that are pronounced as words, such asUNICEF, are usually calledacronyms, so the terminitialism is generally only used for those that are pronounced letter by letter, such asUSA.
Of a verb: not taking adirect object; nottransitive. For example, the verblisten does not usually take a direct object; one cannot say *"Ilistened the ball".
Of an adposition (such as a preposition), or of an adverb: not having a nominal complement. For example, using the following prepositions or adverbs without a complement (here in parentheses):down (the stairs),under (the bridge),inside (the building),aboard (the ship),underneath (the table),here,there,abroad,downtown,afterwards, …
Not following the usual rules of inflection; for example, the plural of Englishman ismen, which is irregular; the regularly formed plural would have been *mans.
The headword or citation form of an inflected word, especially the form found in a bilingual dictionary. This is usually, for verbs: the infinitive or the present tense, first person singular; and for nouns: the nominitive singular. (In linguistics, the word is sometimes used in a sense that includes this definition plus all the inflections cflexeme).
(fromమూస:etymλιτότης) better known as anunderstatement in English, is a rhetorical figure that consists of sayingless to meanmore. E.g.:he is not very clever instead ofhe is a stupid idiot;she's not very pretty instead ofshe's ugly, etc. Thelitotes is not to be confused, as it is quite often, with theeuphemism.
A term or construction that is generally found only in questions, negative sentences, and certain other “negative polarity” contexts; for example,anyone is a negative polarity item, as one can say "I did not see anyone" and "Did you see anyone?", but not *"I saw anyone."
Acase that is usually used as thesubject of averb. For example, if English had a fullyproductive case system, then (the)man in "The man threw the ball" would most likely be in the nominative case.
thevoice verb form in which the subject is not the person or thing doing the action, and is usually having the action done on them,cfactive voice. (see alsoమూస:projectlink) eg:the ball was kicked (by the boy).
Theaspect of a verb, indicating that the action described is completed. Consists of the verb 'have' + the past participle e.g., 'Tom has painted the fence' 'Tom has taken medicine'. Depending on the tense of 'have' one can have present perfect(ive), which are represented in the previous examples, or past perfective: 'Tom had painted the fence', 'Tom had taken medicine'. 'To have painted' is a perfective infinitive (cf.Imperfective.)
perfective past
Simple past, a verb form ofperfectiveaspect andpasttense, which is used to describe an action or event which is regarded as having been completed in the past, in relation to a time already in the past. E.g.,Tom had painted the fence before I got there.
A noun (or a sense of a noun) that is inherently plural and is not used (or is not used in the same sense) in the singular, such aspants in the senses of "trousers" and "underpants", orwheels in the sense of "car". However, in practice, most pluralia tantum are found in the singular in rare cases. (SeeCategory:English pluralia tantum.)
Used to form new words and phrases. For example, when a new verb appears in Modern English, the productive suffix-ed is used to form its past participle; by contrast, the suffix-en appears in many existing past participles, but is not productive, in that it is not (usually) used to form new ones.
A kind ofnoun that usually refers to a specific, unique thing, such asEarth andthe Alps, though one language's proper noun may translate to another language using acommon (not proper) noun. In English, proper nouns are usually capitalized, as are common nouns and adjectives derived from proper nouns. The same word may have both common-noun and proper-noun senses (such asGerman, which is both a proper noun denoting a certain language, and a common noun denoting a person from Germany), and most proper nouns can sometimes be used as common nouns (e.g.,John is a proper noun that is a first name, but can be used a common noun with pluralJohns meaning “people named John”).
A Latin adverb meaning "thus, so". It is traditionally placed inside square brackets and used in quotations to indicate that the preceding is not a copying error, but is in fact a verbatim reflection of the source. (For example, if a source contains a typographical error, someone quoting the source might add [sic] to make clear that the error was in the original source.)
Denotes language that is unique to a particular profession or subject, i.e.jargon. Also refers to the specialized language of a social group, sometimes used to make what is said unintelligible to those who are not members of the group, i.e.cant. Such language is usually outside of conventional usage, and is mostly inappropriate informal contexts.
An inflection, or different form, of acomparable adjective showing a relative quality, denoting "to the ultimate extent" (see alsocomparative anddegrees of comparison). In English, the superlative form is often formed by appending-est, or using the wordmost. For example, the superlative ofbig is "biggest"; ofconfident, "most confident".
the conversion of text in one script into an equivalent in another script. This may include the conversion of diacritical marks into alternate forms without diacritical marks (e.g. Mörder → Moerder).
(of adjectives) unable to be compared, or lacking acomparative andsuperlative function.Seecomparable. Examples of adjectives that are not comparable:annual,first,extra,satin,six-figure.
A noun that cannot be used freely with numbers or theindefinite article, and which therefore takes noplural form. For example, the English nouninformation is a mass noun, at least in its principal senses. For those senses, we cannot say that we have *one information, nor that we have *many information (or *many informations). Many languages do not distinguish between countable and uncountable nouns. Antonym:countable, orcount noun.
a verb characteristic (expressed in some languages by inflection) indicating its relationship with the subject. The usual voices are:active,passive andmiddle.see alsoమూస:projectlink
