types:
discourse
extended verbal expression in speech or writing
word
a unit of language that native speakers can identify
syllable
a unit of spoken language larger than a phoneme
lexeme
a minimal unit (as a word or stem) in the lexicon of a language; `go' and `went' and `gone' and `going' are all members of the English lexeme `go'
morpheme
minimal meaningful language unit; it cannot be divided into smaller meaningful units
formative
minimal language unit that has a syntactic (or morphological) function
name
a language unit by which a person or thing is known
phone,
sound,
speech sound
(phonetics) an individual sound unit of speech without concern as to whether or not it is a phoneme of some language
sign
a fundamental linguistic unit linking a signifier to that which is signified
anagram
a word or phrase spelled by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase
anaphor
a word (such as a pronoun) used to avoid repetition; the referent of an anaphor is determined by its antecedent
antonym,
opposite,
opposite word
a word that expresses a meaning opposed to the meaning of another word, in which case the two words are antonyms of each other
back-formation
a word invented (usually unwittingly by subtracting an affix) on the assumption that a familiar word derives from it
charade
a word acted out in an episode of a game
cognate,
cognate word
a word is cognate with another if both derive from the same word in an ancestral language
contraction
a word formed from two or more words by omitting or combining some sounds
deictic,
deictic word
a word specifying identity or spatial or temporal location from the perspective of a speaker or hearer in the context in which the communication occurs
derivative
(linguistics) a word that is derived from another word
diminutive
a word that is formed with a suffix (such as -let or -kin) to indicate smallness
dirty word
a word that is considered to be unmentionable
catchword,
guide word,
guideword
a word printed at the top of the page of a dictionary or other reference book to indicate the first or last item on that page
head,
head word
(grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent
headword
a word placed at the beginning of a line or paragraph (as in a dictionary entry)
heteronym
a word spelled like another word with a different meaning and pronunciation
homonym
two words are homonyms if they are pronounced or spelled the same way but have different meanings
key word
a significant word used in indexing or cataloging
hybrid,
loan-blend,
loanblend
a word that is composed of parts from different languages (e.g., `monolingual' has a Greek prefix and a Latin root)
loan,
loanword
a word borrowed from another language; e.g. `blitz' is a German word borrowed into modern English
metonym
a word that denotes one thing but refers to a related thing
oxytone
word having stress or an acute accent on the last syllable
palindrome
a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward
primitive
a word serving as the basis for inflected or derived forms
paroxytone
word having stress or acute accent on the next to last syllable
partitive
word (such a `some' or `less') that is used to indicate a part as distinct from a whole
proparoxytone
word having stress or acute accent on the antepenult
quantifier
(grammar) a word that expresses a quantity (as `fifteen' or `many')
reduplication
a word formed by or containing a repeated syllable or speech sound (usually at the beginning of the word)
retronym
a word introduced because an existing term has become inadequate
substantive
any word or group of words functioning as a noun
equivalent word,
synonym
two words that can be interchanged in a context are said to be synonymous relative to that context
term
a word or expression used for some particular thing
ultima
the last syllable in a word
allomorph
a variant phonological representation of a morpheme
bound form,
bound morpheme
a morpheme that occurs only as part of a larger construction; eg an -s at the end of plural nouns
classifier
a word or morpheme used in some languages in certain contexts (such as counting) to indicate the semantic class to which the counted item belongs
ending,
termination
the end of a word (a suffix or inflectional ending or final morpheme)
agnomen
an additional name or an epithet appended to a name (as in 'Ferdinand the Great')
eponym
the name derived from a person (real or imaginary)
eponym
the person for whom something is named
patronym,
patronymic
a family name derived from name of your father or a paternal ancestor (especially with an affix (such as -son in English or O'- in Irish) added to the name of your father or a paternal ancestor)
street name
the name of a brokerage firm in which stock is held on behalf of a customer
street name
slang for something (especially for an illegal drug)
middle name
a name between your first name and your surname
nickname
a descriptive name for a place or thing
misnomer
an incorrect or unsuitable name
title
the name of a work of art or literary composition etc.
signature
your name written in your own handwriting
syncategorem,
syncategoreme
a syncategorematic expression; a word that cannot be used alone as a term in a logical proposition
domain name
strings of letters and numbers (separated by periods) that are used to name organizations and computers and addresses on the internet
solfa syllable
one of the names for notes of a musical scale in solmization
phoneme
(linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are distinguished by the speakers of a particular language
orinasal,
orinasal phone
a speech sound produced with both the oral and nasal passages open (as French nasal vowels)
verbal
a noun or adjective that is formed from a verb
contronym
a word that has two contradictory or opposing meanings