hapax legomenon

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

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Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Usage notes 1.3.2 Synonyms 1.4 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἅπαξ λεγόμενον (“‘(something) said only once’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˌhæpæks lɛˈgɒmɛnɒn/

[edit] Noun

hapax legomenon (plural hapax legomena)

1. A word occurring only once in a given corpus.
   • 2000, Steven Pinker, Words and Rules ISBN 0-465-07269-0, page 172

     There is a lovely technical term for a word that appears once in a body of text: a hapax legomenon (plural: hapax legomena), Greek for “once said.” The term comes from philology, the study of old texts.

[edit] Usage notes

The corpus in question is generally implied by context. Commonly it will be one of:

• A known corpus of a given language
• The works of a given author
• A particular work
• A book of the Bible

[edit] Synonyms

• hapax

[edit] See also

• googlewhack
• nonce word
• sui generis