inkhorn term
inkhorn term noun: a borrowing from another language thought to be pretentious or unneeded, especially from Latin or Greek.
Noun
inkhorn term (plural inkhorn terms)
- A borrowing from another language thought to be pretentious or unneeded, especially from Latin or Greek.
- I knowe them that thynke Rhetorique, to stande wholy vpon darke woordes, and he that can catche an ynke horne terme by the taile, hym thei compt to bee a fine Englishe man, and a good Rhetorician.1553, Thomas Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique, Book 3, London, page 86b
- Vaine boaſters, lyers, make-ſhifts, they are all, / Men that remoued from their inkehorne termes, / Bring forth no action worthie of their bread.1592 (first performance), Thomas Nash[e], A Pleasant Comedie, Called Summers Last Will and Testament, imprinted at London: By Simon Stafford, for Walter Burre, published 1600, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- inkhorn word, inkhornism
Synonyms of inkhorn term
Forms of inkhorn term
| plural | inkhorn terms |
|---|
Origin of inkhorn term
From inkhorn + term, so coined for their increased usage of ink from their length (i.e. one would need to dip their quill into the inkhorn multiple times in order to completely write the word out).
Questions about inkhorn term
- What does inkhorn term mean?
- Inkhorn term means a borrowing from another language thought to be pretentious or unneeded, especially from Latin or Greek.
- What part of speech is inkhorn term?
- Inkhorn term is a noun.
- What is the plural of inkhorn term?
- The plural of inkhorn term is inkhorn terms.
Words near inkhorn term in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: inkhorn term (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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