colexify
colexify verb: to ascribe multiple meanings to the same word.
Verb
colexify (third-person singular simple present colexifies, present participle colexifying, simple past and past participle colexified)
- To ascribe multiple meanings to the same word.
- A language colexifies two distinct senses if it can express them using the same lexical form. For example, English colexifies ‘wood as material’ and ‘firewood’, because it can designate both these senses using the same word wood. (The notion of colexification is not whether a language must express...2022 June 9, Alexandre François, “Lexical tectonics: Mapping structural change in patterns of lexification”, in Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, page 95
- Synonyms:
- coexpress
- Antonyms:
- dislexify, distinguish
Synonyms of colexify
Antonyms
Forms of colexify
| third-person singular present | colexifies |
|---|---|
| present participle | colexifying |
| past participle | colexified |
| past | colexified |
Origin of colexify
From co- + lexify.
Words formed from colexify
Questions about colexify
- What does colexify mean?
- Colexify means to ascribe multiple meanings to the same word.
- What part of speech is colexify?
- Colexify is a verb.
- What is the past tense of colexify?
- The past tense of colexify is colexified.
Words near colexify in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: colexify (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “colexify.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/colexify. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.