Word.ws English Dictionary

colexification

colexification noun: the linguistic pattern whereby multiple meanings can be expressed by the same word (or a pair of homonymous words).

Noun

colexification (countable and uncountable, plural colexifications)

  1. The linguistic pattern whereby multiple meanings can be expressed by the same word (or a pair of homonymous words).
    • Languages may be compared in their patterns of colexification – that is, their ability to encode two distinct senses using the same lexeme.2022 June 9, Alexandre François, “Lexical tectonics: Mapping structural change in patterns of lexification”, in Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, page 95

Antonyms of colexification

Forms of colexification

pluralcolexifications

Origin of colexification

By surface analysis, co- + lexi- + -ification.

Questions about colexification

What does colexification mean?
Colexification means the linguistic pattern whereby multiple meanings can be expressed by the same word (or a pair of homonymous words).
What part of speech is colexification?
Colexification is a noun.
What is the plural of colexification?
The plural of colexification is colexifications.

Words near colexification in the dictionary

  1. colewort
  2. coleworts
  3. colex
  4. colexicographic
  5. colexicographically
  6. colexification
  7. colexifications
  8. colexified
  9. colexifies
  10. colexify
  11. colexifying

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: colexification (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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