English edit

Etymology edit

list +‎ -eme.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

listeme (plural listemes)

  1. (linguistics) An item that is memorized as part of a list, as opposed to being generated by a rule.
    Idioms such as "red herring" are listemes, as are irregular forms such as "geese".
    • 2000, Steven Pinker, Words and Rules, →ISBN, page 24:
      A memorized chunk is sometimes called a listeme, that is, an item that has to be memorized as part of a list; one can argue that this book ought to have been called Listemes and Rules.

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