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Polysemy (/ p ə ˈ l ɪ s ɪ m i / or / ˈ p ɒ l ɪ ˌ s iː m i /; [1] [2] from Ancient Greek πολύ-(polý-) ' many ' and σῆμα (sêma) ' sign ') is the capacity for a sign (e.g. a symbol, a morpheme, a word, or a phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several word senses. [3] Polysemy is distinct from ...
Jedli na hoře bez holí, meaning either "they ate elderberries on a mountain using a stick" or "they ate on a mountain without any sticks" or "they ate elderberry using a stick to eat their sorrow away"; depending on the phrasing or a correct placement or punctuation, at least 7 meanings can be obtained. By replacing "na hoře" by "nahoře ...
For the second portion of the list, see List of words having different meanings in American and British English: M–Z. Asterisked (*) meanings, though found chiefly in the specified region, also have some currency in the other region; other definitions may be recognised by the other as Briticisms or Americanisms respectively. Additional usage ...
Symploce – a figure of speech in which several successive clauses have the same first and last words. Synchysis – word order confusion within a sentence. Synecdoche – a rhetorical device where one part of an object is used to represent the whole—e.g., "There are fifty head of cattle." or "Show a leg!" (naval command to get out of bed ...
Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; [1] the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A term is a word, compound word , or multi-word expression that in specific contexts is given specific meanings—these may deviate from the ...
A specific case of semantic change is reappropriation, a cultural process by which a group reclaims words or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group, for example like with the word queer. Other related processes include pejoration and amelioration.
Langenscheidt dictionaries in various languages A multi-volume Latin dictionary by Egidio Forcellini Dictionary definition entries. A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for logographic languages), which may include information on definitions ...
Diachronic or historical lexicology is devoted to the evolution of words and word-formation over time. It investigates the origins of a word and the ways in which its structure, meaning, and usage have since changed. [9] Synchronic or descriptive lexicology examines the words of a language within a certain time frame. This could be a period ...