Word.ws English Dictionary

Weinreich witticism

Weinreich witticism proper noun: the humorous observation that "a language is a dialect with an army and navy", implying that sociopolitical influence is a driving factor in language status.

Proper noun

the Weinreich witticism

  1. The humorous observation that "a language is a dialect with an army and navy", implying that sociopolitical influence is a driving factor in language status.

Origin of Weinreich witticism

After the sociolinguist Max Weinreich, who popularized it.

Questions about Weinreich witticism

What does Weinreich witticism mean?
Weinreich witticism means the humorous observation that "a language is a dialect with an army and navy", implying that sociopolitical influence is a driving factor in language status.
What part of speech is Weinreich witticism?
Weinreich witticism is a proper noun.

Words near Weinreich witticism in the dictionary

  1. Weinmann
  2. Weinmanns
  3. Weinmans
  4. Weinreb
  5. Weinrebs
  6. Weinreich witticism
  7. Weinreichian
  8. Weinsberg
  9. weinschenkite
  10. Weinstein
  11. Weinstein effect

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Weinreich witticism (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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