wordlike

1 7.1

Like a sound or sign that people treat as a word

adjective
/ˈwɜrdˌlaɪk/

: palabrístico

Some animal sounds have a wordlike quality that fascinates linguists.

Examples

Her gestures were almost wordlike in how clearly they communicated her thoughts.
The ancient symbol has a wordlike appearance, making it easy to misinterpret.
That was a wordlike response!
The poem had a wordlike quality that captivated readers.
As children develop their literacy skills, their attempts at writing become increasingly wordlike and resemble standard spellings.
The symbols she created during her early efforts at writing were not very wordlike, but they showed her understanding of language.
By the time he reached school age, his scribbles were much more wordlike, demonstrating his growing grasp of written communication.

Antonyms

nonverbal

10 3.7

Showing feelings and ideas without spoken or written words using gestures and facial expressions

Surface Forms

wordlike positive

Morphology

wordlike = word (transparent) = word + like

Clear and regular adjective formation from the noun 'word' with the productive suffix '-like' meaning 'resembling'.

Etymology

Wordlike is made from word and -like, where word means 'a single piece of language' and -like means 'similar to'. So wordlike simply means 'resembling a word', which is why we use it for things that look or act like a word.