autosemantic
- adjective
- /ˌɔːtəʊˈsɛmæn.tɪk/
- Specialized
:
autosemántico
- She explained that articles are not autosemantic, as they need other words to convey meaning.
Examples
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A noun is typically an autosemantic word because it expresses meaning on its own.
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An autosemantic word conveys meaning by itself.
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Unlike conjunctions, which are synsemantic, verbs are usually autosemantic.
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The word autosemantic can stand alone in a sentence.
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A noun is typically an autosemantic word because it expresses meaning on its own.
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An autosemantic word conveys meaning by itself, without needing additional context.
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She noted that many autosemantic words, like nouns and verbs, can stand alone in a sentence.
Synonyms
43
4.6
A clause that can stand alone as a sentence
20
4.3
Complete and independent without needing anything else to work
A word or phrase that can stand alone as the main part of a sentence, for example a noun
How Independent
- Specialized
13
5.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
autosemantic = semantic (semi-transparent) = auto + semant + ic
The meaning is built from auto- ('self') plus semantic ('relating to meaning'), but the term is still somewhat technical and specialized.
Etymology
Autosemantic comes from auto- meaning 'self', as in automatic, and semantic meaning 'meaning'. So an autosemantic word has 'meaning' by itself and can stand alone without help from other words.