It should probably come as no surprise that the people who coin new words tend to be the sorts of people who love words, and thus, that many of the words they coin would be about words. You follow? I'm talking about the logophiles and verbomaniacs of the world, of which (obviously) I am one. The 140-odd words in this list (feel free to remove the hyphen mentally if it suits you) are thoroughly meta-linguistic: they refer to kinds of words, parts of words, aspects of words, transformations of words, and so on. Needless to say, if you're here on the Phrontistery for any length of time, you are probably deeply in need of this list.
Word
|
Definition
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abecedism | word created from the initials of words in a phrase
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ablaut | variation in root vowel of words to change meaning
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acronym | word formed from initial letters of another word
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acrophonic | using a symbol for the initial sound of a thing
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acroteleutic | phrase or words at the end of a psalm
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adversative | word or phrase expressing opposition
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allolalia | speech disorder featuring randomly spoken words
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alveary | beehive; area of the ear where wax collects; word-list
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anacrusis | syllable prior to the normal rhythm of a verse
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annomination | pun; play on words
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apheresis | taking away a sound or syllable at the beginning of a word
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aphesis | loss of initial unaccented vowel from beginning of a word
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apocope | cutting off the last sound of a word
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arithmogram | number composed of numerical values of letters in a word
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auslaut | final sound of a word or syllable
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bahuvrihi | compound word whose second part is a noun but that acts as an adjective
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biverbal | of, like or pertaining to two words; having a double sense
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cacology | bad choice of words or faulty pronunciation
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calligram | design using the letters of a word
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calque | word or expression introduced into a language by literally translating it
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catachresis | incorrect usage of a word
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cheville | unnecessary word used to extend line of verse
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cledonism | circumlocution used to avoid speaking unlucky words
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cohyponym | word which is one of multiple hyponyms of another word
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definiens | word or words used in a dictionary definition
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diectasis | extending line of verse by adding extra syllable
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dysphemism | replacement of an inoffensive by an offensive word
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echoism | the formation of imitative words
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eclipsis | omission of sounds or words in speech
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ecthlipsis | omitting one or more sounds in pronouncing a word
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epenthesis | insertion of extra sound into a word
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epeolatry | worship of words
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epithesis | addition of one or more letters to a word
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etymology | study of origins of words
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etymon | true origin of a word
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euphonism | custom of using pleasing sounding words
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euphonym | euphonious synonym
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eutony | pleasantness of the sound of a word
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flexiloquent | speaking ambiguously or using words of doubtful meaning
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grammalogue | word represented by a single sign; logogram
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grammatolatry | worship of letters and words
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hadeharia | constant use of the word “hell”
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hapax | word which occurs only once
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haplography | omission of words or lines in recopying text
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haplology | omission of a doubled or similar sound or syllable in a word
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heteronym | word having same spelling but different sound and meaning
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heterophemy | accidental use of word different from that meant
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holophrase | single word expressing sentence or phrase
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homograph | words spelled the same but of different meaning
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homonym | words having the same sound but different meanings
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hypernym | word representing a class of words or things
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hyphaeresis | omission of sound or letter from a word
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hyponym | term which is a member of a larger class
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iconomatic | using pictures to represent sounds of words; rebus-writing
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ideophone | word that is spoken but not written
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illocution | an act which is performed by speaking words
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inkhornism | pedantic word or expression
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isonym | word having the same derivation or form as another
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largiloquent | talkative; full of words
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lethologica | inability to remember the right word
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lexicology | study of words and their meanings
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lexigram | sign which represents a word
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lexigraphy | art of definition of words
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lexigraphy | system of writing in which each sign represents a word
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lexiphanic | bombastic; sesquipedalian; using many long words
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loan-word | word borrowed from another language
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loganamnosis | obsession with trying to recall forgotten words
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logocracy | government of words
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logodaedalus | artificer in words
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logogogue | one who issues laws or rules regarding words
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logogram | single sign standing for word or phrase
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logogriph | riddle in which word is found from other words' letters
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logomachy | contention about words or in words
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logomancy | divination using words
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logophile | a lover of words
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logorrhea | excessive flow of words; uncontrollable garrulity
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logotype | body of text with frequently occurring word or syllable
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malapropism | misapplication of words without mispronunciation
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meronym | word whose relation to another is a part to the whole
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metanalysis | incorrect placement of 'n' at start of word following a nindefinite article
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metaplasm | alteration in spelling of a word by adding, removing, or transposing letters
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metathesis | transposition of sounds or letters of a word
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metonymy | figurative use of word to name an attribute of its subject
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monepic | comprising only one word or single-word sentences
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monoptote | word with one form for all cases; indeclinable noun
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multiloquence | talkativeness; use of many words
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neoterism | introduction of new things, especially words
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nomenclator | lexicon; word-list; one who assigns names
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notarikon | making words from letters taken from throughout a sentence
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oligosyllable | word of few syllables
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onomatomania | irresistible desire to repeat certain words
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onomatophobia | fear of hearing a certain word
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orthology | correct use of words
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oxytone | word bearing acute accent on last syllable
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palabra | a word; talk
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palilalia | disorder characterized by rapid repetition of words
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paragoge | addition of a sound to end of word
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paragraphia | writing of different letters and words than intended
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paramnesia | abnormality of memory; inability to remember meaning of word
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paranym | euphemism; word whose meaning altered to conceal evasion
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paraphasia | disorder in which one word substituted for another
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parasynesis | corruption of forms of words
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parasynthesis | derivation of words using hyphenated compounds
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paresis | omission of an element from a word
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paronym | word from same root or having same sound as another
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paroxytone | having an acute accent on the next to last syllable
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pauciloquent | of few words; speaking little
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penacute | having an acute accent on the penultimate syllable; paroxytone
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polyonym | name consisting of several words
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polysemant | word with many meanings
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portmanteau | word formed by blending two existing words
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proclisis | pronunciation of word dependent on following word
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provection | transfer of last letter of one word to first of next
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pundigrion | play on words; pun
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quatch | a word; a sound
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radix | root; root-number or numerical base; root word or stem
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rebus | picture puzzle representing a word
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repetend | figures, words, notes or numbers that are repeated
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rhema | word; verb
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rhematic | of words or verbs; forming a word or words
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rheme | speech element that expresses an idea
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rhopalic | having each word one syllable longer than that before
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semanteme | word expressing an idea, such as a noun
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semantology | science of meanings of words
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sesquipedalian | tending to use long or cumbersome words
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skothending | rhyme in which final consonant is same but preceding vowel differs
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syncategorematic | meaningless or unable to form a term without other words
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syncope | omission of a sound from middle of a word
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synsemantic | of a word, having no meaning outside a specific context
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telestich | poem where final letters of each line spell a word
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tetragrammaton | sacred word or acronym of four letters
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tmesis | separation of word into parts by an intervening word
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trionym | name consisting of three words
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univocalic | having only one vowel; written passage using only one vowel
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verbalism | undue attention to words alone
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verbatim | word for word
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verbicide | destroying the meaning of a word
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verbigeration | morbid and purposeless repetition of certain words
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verbile | one whose mental processes are stimulated by words
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verbomania | craze for words
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wordbound | unable to find expression in words
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I hope you have found this site to be useful. If you have any corrections, additions, or comments, please contact me. Please note that I am not able to respond to all requests. Please consult a major dictionary before e-mailing your query. All material on this page © 1996-2021 Stephen Chrisomalis. Links to this page may be made without permission.