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Backus-Naur form

UK/bækəs naʊə fɔːm//bækəs naʊɚ fɔɹm/

Backus-Naur form noun: a formal notation for context-free grammars.

Noun

Backus-Naur form (countable and uncountable, plural Backus-Naur forms)

  1. A formal notation for context-free grammars.
    • While context-free grammars (which, by the way, directly correspond to Backus-Naur forms) define the syntax of declarations, statements, and expressions, etc. (i.e. the structure of a program), the regular grammars define the syntax of identifiers, numbers, strings, etc. (i.e., the basic symbols of...1991, Bernd Teufel, Organization of Programming Languages, Springer, page 26
    • Here, a Backus-Naur Form (BNF) grammar is specified that allows a computer program or model to be constructed by a simple genetic algorithm operating on an array of bits.2004, Jason H. Moore, Lance W. Hahn, Systems Biology Modeling in Human Genetics Using Petri Nets and Grammatical Evolution, Kalyanmoy Deb, et. al. (editors), Genetic and Evolutionary Computation...

Synonyms of Backus-Naur form

Forms of Backus-Naur form

pluralBackus-Naur forms

Origin of Backus-Naur form

From the names of computer science pioneers John Backus and Peter Naur. The notation was developed by Backus in 1959 (as Backus normal form) to describe computer languages, specifically ALGOL 58, and expanded and used by Naur in the ALGOL 60 report (the result of a January 1960 meeting). The name change to Backus-Naur form was at the suggestion of Donald Knuth.

Words formed from Backus-Naur form

  • augmented Backus-Naur form
  • extended Backus-Naur form

Questions about Backus-Naur form

What does Backus-Naur form mean?
Backus-Naur form means a formal notation for context-free grammars.
What part of speech is Backus-Naur form?
Backus-Naur form is a noun.
How do you pronounce Backus-Naur form?
Backus-Naur form is pronounced /bækəs naʊə fɔːm/ (UK).
What is the plural of Backus-Naur form?
The plural of Backus-Naur form is Backus-Naur forms.

Words near Backus-Naur form in the dictionary

  1. backupped
  2. backupping
  3. backups
  4. Backus
  5. Backus normal form
  6. Backus-Naur form
  7. Backus-Naur forms
  8. Backuses
  9. backveld
  10. backvelder
  11. backvelders

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Backus-Naur form (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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