Skip to content
Vinony

semasiology

noun

  1. the branch of linguistics concerned with meaning in language; the study of meaning, especially meaning change; semantics
L1356379 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˌsiːmeɪsɪˈɒləd͡ʒɪ/ / /sɪmeɪsiˈɑləd͡ʒi/

noun

Etymology: From Ancient Greek σημασία (sēmasía, “the meaning of a word”) + -ology.

  1. Semantics; a discipline within linguistics concerned with the meaning of a word independent of its phonetic expression.

    “Stylistics seemed to have become a four-letter-word in German semasiology, a fact that shows how far official German semasiology had shifted away from Reisig's initial outline, and how different it was from Bréal's semantics of language-use and Wegener's semantics of communication.”

    “"The early theories of semasiology attempted to account for meaning shifts in language."”