vocable
English
editEtymology
editFrom French vocable or Latin vocābulum, from Latin vocō (“I call”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editvocable (plural vocables)
- (linguistics) A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than its meaning.
- 1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament:
- Without words and almost with the seriousness of asylum nurses they at once set upon an unsavoury-looking matron who began to cry out Mediterranean vocables of distress.
- 1925, John Buchan, The House of the Four Winds:
- At first the man puzzled; then he smiled. He pronounced a string of uncouth vocables.
- (music) A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in place of actual words in a song.
- a. 2010, Victoria Lindsay Levine, Native American Music, Encyclopaedia Britannica:
- Many Native American songs employ vocables, syllables that do not have referential meaning. These may be used to frame words or may be inserted among them; in some cases, they constitute the entire song text.
Translations
editlinguistics: word or utterance
Adjective
editvocable (not comparable)
- (linguistics) Able to be uttered.
- a vocable marker
Synonyms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editable to be uttered
|
French
editEtymology
editLearned borrowing from Latin vocābulum.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editvocable m (plural vocables)
Related terms
editFurther reading
edit- “vocable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *wekʷ-
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Linguistics
- English terms with quotations
- en:Music
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Singing
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French learned borrowings from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns