vocable

English

WOTD – 12 September 2012    

Etymology

From French vocable or Latin vocabulum, from Latin vocō (“I call”).

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈvəʊkəbl̩/
• (US) IPA: /ˈvoʊkəbl̩/

Noun

vocable (plural vocables)

1. (linguistics) A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than its meaning.
   • 1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament:

     Without words and almost with the seriousness of asylum nurses they at once set upon an unsavoury-looking matron who began to cry out Mediterranean vocables of distress.

   • 1925, John Buchan, "The House of the Four Winds":

     At first the man puzzled; then he smiled. He pronounced a string of uncouth vocables.

2. (music) A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in place of actual words in a song.
   • Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Native American Music;

     Many Native American songs employ vocables, syllables that do not have referential meaning. These may be used to frame words or may be inserted among them; in some cases, they constitute the entire song text.

Translations

linguistics: word or utterance

• Finnish: sane (fi), vokaabeli (fi) (word); äännähdys (fi) (utterance)

• German: Vokabel (de) f

music: syllable or sound without specific meaning

• Finnish: lallatus (fi), vokaabeli (fi)

Adjective

vocable (not comparable)

1. (linguistics) Able to be uttered.

   a vocable marker, a vocable thing

Synonyms

• utterable, voiceable

Translations

able to be uttered

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vocabulum, from vocare (“call”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vɔkabl/

Noun

vocable m (plural vocables)

1. term