Questions tagged [terminology]
This tag is for questions seeking or discussing a term (or terms) belonging or peculiar to a science, art, or specialized subject (e.g. linguistics, mathematics, physics, biology, finance, theatre, music, philosophy, astronomy, medical, nautical etc.). Consider adding [single-word-requests] and [phrase-requests] tags also if relevant.
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What exactly is an "adverb"?
From comments to “Weekdays” used as an adverb", I learn that The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary says "open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.", shows the word weekdays is an adverb.
It seems to me ...
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How can I reliably and accurately identify the passive voice in writing or speech?
How can I reliably and accurately identify the passive voice in writing or speech? I'm not interested in advice about whether or not to use it yet... I just want to know for sure what it is, so that I ...
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"log in to" or "log into" or "login to"
When writing an instruction about connecting to a computer using ssh, telnet, etc., I'm not sure what spacing to use in this familiar spoken phrase:
"Log in to host.com"
"Log into host.com"
"Login to ...
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"pros and cons", "black and white", "ups and downs". Always in a fixed sequence, is there a word or phrase for these?
Is there a word or phrase for two nouns or adjectives joined by a conjunction (usually "and") in a fixed sequence?
alive and well
fast and furious
hat and gloves
pen and pencil
...
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What is a word/phrase for using a term for a popular special case instead of a generic term?
Some people use a term for a popular special case in place of a generic term. (Often this popular special case is a particular product in that category.) I think that this is a common phenomenon. ...
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What is the term for the double consecutive use of a word with stress on one of the words to alter its severity?
What is the term when a word is used consecutively twice, with intentional stress placed on the first word, as a means to alter the severity of the word's meaning? I am not referring to a past ...
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A special use of "should"?
I saw a sentence like this:
Wilkinson is contesting the release, and threatened to sue should it be released.
I could understand it but do you know what do they call this kind of use of "should" ...
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Is there a term for words that have a single meaning or are only used in a single context?
Certain words you hear in English are only ever heard in a single context. For example, skirl is used to describe the sound a bagpipe makes. Etymonline generously says the word is "rarely" heard ...
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Difference between an acronym and abbreviation?
TLA is an acronym for "Three Letter Acronym". Is it also an abbreviation, since it abbreviates the original phrase?
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What are sentences like "the longer X, the more Y" called and can they be used in formal written English?
What is the type of sentence exemplified below called? Is it appropriate to use it in a scientific paper and formal written English in general?
1. The more pronounced the variation, the
more the ...
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What Is the Real Name of the #?
I used to say "sharp sign" to refer to the # sign.
Today a friend told me that the correct term is number sign or hash sign or even just hash.
What is the difference between these options and what'...
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What do you call a response which does not address the question?
When some one is asked a question, sometimes if they are trying to avoid answering the question, they respond with something unrelated. What is the word for that response?
Eg. A: Why were you late?
...
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Garbage/stuff words
I've watched two interviews. One with Grace Park, one with Eliza Dushku.
What one can't miss is that Eliza uses an awful lot of garbage words (or what these are called) — um, so, like, you know, ...
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Logging in or on?
There are a plethora of words for user accounts, like logon, login, signon, and also the action of logging in (or logging on) or signing in.
Are there any usage guidelines here?
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What is the name of the tactic that politicians use to bury people with torrent of words?
Some people write bloated books and long essays with skilful use of hooks, e.g. Jared Diamond; some others speak in long-drawn sentences with torrents of words, e.g. Noam Chomsky. It reminds me of a ...
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Difference between "commentor" and "commentator"
What is the difference between commentor and commentator? Is commentor or commenter a legitimate English word?
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Are there any rules governing what we call people from different countries?
people from China = Chinese
people from Japan = Japanese
people from Australia = Australian
people from Lebanon = Lebanese
people from Sweden = Swedish
Are there any rules that govern this?...
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What would you call a word that doesn't exist in or translate well into another language?
I've run into this situation several times, being a native Spanish speaker.
There are some words you just can't translate into another language. Is there a particular word to describe this?
I'm not ...
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“kinda”, “sorta”, “coulda”, “shoulda”, “lotta”, “oughta”, “betcha”, "tseasy", etc. What are these?
In linguistics, is there a term describing this phenomenon, i.e., when the syllables of two words are slurred together in the spoken language? They are not contractions. While contractions are ...
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English word for taking a derogatory term and owning it with pride
E.g. "geek" or "queer" were originally meant as an insulting term, but were taken by the recipients as titles of pride.
Is there a term for this phenomenon?
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Why is 'present perfect' present if it happened in the past? And why is it 'perfect'?
Why is 'present perfect' present if it happened in the past? And why is it 'perfect'?
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Whose tense is it, anyway?
I have questions which perhaps should be posted to Linguistics.SE; but since my primary concern is to discover what terminology in discussing English grammar and usage on ELU (and in similar contexts),...
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What do you call words that look like a negation but are not?
I can be nonplussed (in fact that is practically the ground state of my existence), but not plussed. I can also be indifferent; but if you are different, that doesn't mean you care, either. What do ...
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Term for a word that is unintentionally made up of two or more other words?
For example, therapist may be split into the + rapist, neither of which (arguably) has anything to do with the original words.
Another example would be conflagration: con + flag + ration. Or weather: ...
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Why "inspector general", and not "general inspector", like German "Generalinspektor"? [duplicate]
I would expect the term "inspector general" to be "general inspector" instead.
In part, that may be because I know the German variant as "Generalinspekteur" of "Generalinspektor".
But I'm pretty ...
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What is the correct word for "dependee"?
What is the correct word for "dependee"?
In other words, what is the word for something that is depended upon? The relationship here is in the context of software engineering
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What is the word for always YES (100%) or always NO (0%), never in-between
For example:
1) In statistics, this attribute will always either be 0% or 100%, never in-between.
2) The boundary is either safe or destroyed, because there is never a state where it is only '...
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Term for catchy tune that stays in your head
Is there a term for a catchy tune that stays in your head after you hear it? The Germans call it an earworm.
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"a wottle of bine", "a can of boot reer" and "holed and sealed" - What types of speech errors are these?
People often make these mistakes in speech on purpose, just for amusement. Sometimes, however, they are unintentional and prove even funnier. In this case, is there a specific term for them?
e.g.
...
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What is it called when you use many words to describe the word you want to use?
What is it called when you use many words to describe the word you want to use?
I know there is a technical word that's used in foreign language acquisition that means using many words to describe a ...
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Is there a name for when the same word is used at the beginning and end of different phrases/sentences?
Is there a name for when one phrase ends with a word that starts the next phrase. For instance:
life is a peach and cream
Or
sunscreen in the eye for detail
Or (from Dave Eggers' Heartbreaking ...
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What’s the ‘accusative absolute’?
I read the following definition for accusative absolute, but the many syntactical terms (based on Latin) confound me: accusative and nominative absolute.
a construction in English, especially ...
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X, Y, Z — horizontal, vertical and ...?
When working in a 2D coordinate system you could say that X is the horizontal axis and Y is the vertical axis.
Extending this to 3D, is there a similar word for the Z axis?
(I'm aware of Width, ...
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Which term correctly identifies those who enjoy programming/technology: "geek" or "nerd"?
Which term correctly identifies those who enjoy and are involved with programming and technology, geek or nerd?
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Is there an antonym for “capitalize” (as in letter-case)?
A word that starts with a lower-case (lowercase?) letter can be capitalized, but what is the converse action?
Google has only one page in the top results that addresses this and the closest thing to ...
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Is there a term for referring to an organization by its city rather than by its name?
This happens specifically often in the technology press:
There's no point trying to ascribe motives to what Redmond [instead of "Microsoft"] does.
We'll see shortly if Cupertino [instead of "...
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What term can be used to describe Yoda's speech?
What is Yoda's speech called? Is there a particular name for it (such as "dangling...")?
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What follows next in the sequence "unary, binary, ternary..."?
I looked on Oxford's online dictionary and was able to find the names identifying orders of a given degree:
primary
secondary
tertiary
quaternary
quinary
senary
septenary
octonary
nonary
denary
-- no ...
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How does the phrase "used to" work, grammatically?
It is common to hear people say "used to" to indicate that they did something in the past but no longer do; for example, "I used to play basketball." How would "used to," used in that context, fit ...
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Word for not obscure but not mainstream
Is there some way to describe something that the average person doesn't know about but is still not obscure? Such as a musician who doesn't get much radio play but still has thousands or even millions ...
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How did "lobster" mean two different species?
This live crustacean is called astice in Italian. The one on the right is aragosta.
They look very different from one another. The Italian dictionary describes the astice as having a deep (intense) ...
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Is there a term for words that when reversed, form other words?
I'm aware of what a palindrome is. What do you call words that, when reversed, form other words, such as ton (not) and part (trap)?
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Term for minimum or maximum
I need to ask a user to request either a minimum or maximum value.
What would be the appropriate label for this?
I have considered extremum but I am not sure if this is commonly understood or ...
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Term for using "thingy-esque" phrases rather than a common word
{This question came to mind because of the recent question .. What do you call the interconnecting bits of a puzzle piece in English? }
In my opinion, in English, it's reasonably common that—...
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How does one pronounce the '@' symbol?
How can I pronounce @ symbol: At / At the rate?
Can I use it in a sentence? Please explain with an example.
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Is there a word to name being unable to think of "proper terminology" for something?
In regards to only being able to say something like "hand ankle" when meaning "wrist", but the person is absolutely unable to remember the word "wrist". (Or "unsweet doughnut", when someone can't ...
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What is a gerund? A noun or a verb? 'His smoking upset me’
I've been studying the Huddleston and Pullum book for four months now. So far only one thing confuses me: the identity of gerund. Is it a noun or a verb?
His constant smoking upset me. smoking ...
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Rhyming conventions of Early Modern English
I was reading the poem "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell when something struck me as odd. Let me quote two passages:
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide
Of ...
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"Swear" as a noun as opposed to "swear word"
I'm a teenager from Chicago. During my childhood (and, presumably, that of almost all English-speaking children), I was taught that some words were "bad" words; these words were ...
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