semantic

See also: semàntic

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σημαντικός (sēmantikós). Compare French sémantique.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈmæntɪk/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /səˈmæntək/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æntɪk

Adjective

semantic (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to semantics or the meanings of words. [from late 19th c.]
2. (software design, of code) Reflecting intended structure and meaning.
3. (slang, of a detail or distinction) Petty or trivial; (of a person or statement) quibbling, niggling.

Antonyms

• antisemantic

Derived terms

• asemantic
• autosemantic
• biosemantic
• endosemantic
• episemantic
• ethnosemantic
• exosemantic
• extrasemantic
• grammaticosemantic
• isosemantic
• lexicosemantic
• metasemantic
• monosemantic
• morphosemantic
• neurosemantic
• nonsemantic
• phonosemantic
• phono-semantic compound
• phono-semantic matching
• polysemantic
• presemantic
• psychosemantic
• quasisemantic
• semanteme
• semantically
• semantic analysis
• semantic borrowing
• semantic calque
• semantic change
• semantic differentiation
• semantic drift
• semantic field
• semantician
• semanticism
• semanticist
• semanticity
• semanticization
• semanticize
• semantic loan
• semantic memory
• semantic net
• semantic network
• semantic-pragmatic disorder
• semantic satiation
• semantic shift
• semantic tableau
• semantic versioning
• semantic Web
• synsemantic
• unsemantic
• zoosemantic

Related terms

• semantical
• semantics
• semasiology
• sematic
• sematology
• seme
• sememe
• semiotic
• semiotics

Translations

of or relating to semantics or the meanings of words

• Arabic: دَلَالَات الأَلفَاظ
• Asturian: semánticu
• Belarusian: семанты́чны (sjemantýčny)
• Catalan: semàntic
• Czech: sémantický (cs), významový
• Dutch: semantisch (nl)
• Finnish: semanttinen (fi), merkitysopillinen
• French: sémantique (fr)
• German: semantisch (de)
• Greek: σημασιολογικός (el) (simasiologikós)
• Hungarian: szemantikus (hu), szemantikai (hu), jelentéstani (hu), jelentésbeli
• Icelandic: merkingarlegur, merkingarfræðilegur
• Indonesian: semantis (id)
• Italian: semantico (it)
• Japanese: 意味的な (imiteki na)
• Kazakh: семантикалық (semantikalyq)
• Korean: 시멘틱 (simentik)
• Maltese: semantika
• Marathi: शब्दार्थासंबंधीचा m (śabdārthāsambandhīcā)
• Polish: semantyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: semântico (pt)
• Romanian: semantic (ro)
• Russian: семанти́ческий (ru) (semantíčeskij)
• Slovak: sémantický, významový
• Spanish: semántico (es)
• Swedish: betydelsemässig (sv), semantisk (sv)
• Turkish: anlamsal (tr), manaya ait, semantik (tr)
• Ukrainian: семанти́чний (semantýčnyj)
• White Hmong: lub ntsiab

Noun

semantic (plural semantics)

1. (linguistics) In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its meaning; contrasted with phonetic.
   • 2005, Friedrich Alexander Bischoff, Yinglin Wang, San tzu ching explicated, the classical initiation to classic Chinese couplet I to XI, page 21:

     Its semantic is polysyllabic, viz. it uses the word formations of spoken Chinese.

   • 2013, William S-Y. Wang, Love and War in Ancient China: Voices from the Shijing, page 25:

     In this particular case, the semantic is on the left of its host sinogram.

   • 2017, Vladimir Skultety, Understanding Chinese Characters:

     The 亻(人) ren2 'person' semantic has been replaced by 氵(水) shui3 'water' semantic in浸, but帚 zhou3 'broom' has phonetically or semantically nothing to do with 浸 and is just a residue of 侵 after亻(人) ren2 'person' has been removed.

Translations

component of a phono-semantic compound that indicates meaning

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 形旁 (zh) (xíngpáng), 意符 (zh) (yìfú)

• Finnish: semanttinen osa
• Japanese: 意符 (ja) (ifu)

References

• Semantic Web on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “semantic”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “semantic”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "semantic" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.
• "Semantic code: What? Why? How?" in boagworld.
• “semantic”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• amnestic, ancestim, nematics

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sémantique.

Adjective

semantic m or n (feminine singular semantică, masculine plural semantici, feminine and neuter plural semantice)

1. semantic

Declension

Declension of semantic

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	semantic		semantică		semantici	semantice
	definite	semanticul		semantica		semanticii	semanticele
genitive- dative	indefinite	semantic		semantice		semantici	semantice
	definite	semanticului		semanticei		semanticilor	semanticelor