Word.ws English Dictionary

hypotext

hypotext noun: an earlier text which serves as the source of a subsequent piece of literature.

Noun

hypotext (plural hypotexts)

  1. An earlier text which serves as the source of a subsequent piece of literature.
    • Such a practice (which is autosonic, by the way) could be viewed as a “mega-editing” process; but I would like to draw a distinction between plunderphonics and edited versions, because the former clearly aim to denature the hypotext.2007, Allan F. Moore, Critical Essays in Popular Musicology, Routledge
    • For example, what is the significance of changing the 'Pride'‚ to 'Bride', in Gurinder Chadha's film adaptation? Genette defines 'hypertextuality' as a hypertext's relation to its hypotext and instances of this are approaches to Austen that reflect […]2010, Deborah Cartmell, Screen Adaptations: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: A close study of the relationship between text and film, A&C Black, →ISBN

Forms of hypotext

pluralhypotexts

Origin of hypotext

From hypo- + text.

Questions about hypotext

What does hypotext mean?
Hypotext means an earlier text which serves as the source of a subsequent piece of literature.
What part of speech is hypotext?
Hypotext is a noun.
What is the plural of hypotext?
The plural of hypotext is hypotexts.

Words near hypotext in the dictionary

  1. hypotenuses
  2. hypotestosteronaemia
  3. hypotestosteronemia
  4. hypotestosteronemic
  5. hypotetraploid
  6. hypotext
  7. hypotexts
  8. hypoth
  9. hypothalamectomies
  10. hypothalamectomy
  11. hypothalami

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hypotext (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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Cite this entry: “hypotext.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hypotext. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.