paradigm

English

WOTD – 13 June 2006

Alternative forms

• paradigma (archaic)

Etymology

Established 1475-85 from Late Latin paradīgma, from Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (parádeigma, “pattern”), from παραδείκνυμι (paradeíknumi, “I show [beside] or compare”) + -μα (-ma, “forming nouns concerning the results of actions”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/
• (US) enPR: ˈpärədīm, IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/, /ˈpɛɹ.ə.daɪm/, /ˈpeɪ.ɹə.daɪm/

  (Mary–marry–merry merger)

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

paradigm (plural paradigms or paradigmata)

1. A pattern, a way of doing something, especially (now often derogatory) a pattern of thought, a system of beliefs, a conceptual framework.

   Synonyms: style, model, worldview

   Thomas Kuhn's landmark “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” got people talking about paradigm shifts, to the point the word itself now suggests an incomplete or biased perspective.

2. An example serving as the model for such a pattern.

   Synonyms: template, exemplar, posterboy

   • 2000, Estate of William F. Jenkins v. Paramount Pictures Corp.:

     According to the Fourth Circuit, “Coca-Cola” is “the paradigm of a descriptive mark that has acquired secondary meaning”.

   • 2003, Nicholas Asher; Alex Lascarides, Logics of Conversation, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 46:

     DRT is a paradigm example of a dynamic semantic theory, […]

3. (linguistics) A set of all forms which contain a common element, especially the set of all inflectional forms of a word or a particular grammatical category.

   The paradigm of "to sing" is "sing, sang, sung". The verb "to ring" follows the same paradigm.

Synonyms

• (exemplar): Thesaurus:exemplar, Thesaurus:model

Derived terms

• morphoparadigm
• paradigmatic
• paradigmaticism
• paradigm shift

 

Translations

way of viewing reality

• Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʿuycʿ)
• Catalan: paradigma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 模式 (zh) (móshì)

• Czech: paradigma (cs) n, pojetí (cs) n
• Danish: paradigme (da) n
• Dutch: paradigma (nl) n, denkkader (nl) n
• Finnish: paradigma (fi), maailmankatsomus (fi)
• French: paradigme (fr) m
• German: Paradigma (de) n, Weltanschauung (de) f, Bezugssystem (de) n, Sicht der Dinge f, Denkrahmen m
• Iban: paradigma
• Icelandic: hugarfar (is) n
• Indonesian: paradigma (id)
• Italian: paradigma (it) m
• Macedonian: паради́гма f (paradígma)
• Malay: paradigma
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: paradigme (no) n, paradigma n

  Nynorsk: paradigme n, paradigma n

• Polish: paradygmat (pl) m
• Portuguese: paradigma (pt) m
• Russian: паради́гма (ru) f (paradígma)
• Slovak: paradigma f
• Spanish: paradigma (es) m
• Swedish: paradigm (sv) n
• Turkish: paradigma (tr)

example serving as a model or pattern

• Arabic: نُموذج‎, مِثَال‎ (miṯāl), آيَة‎ (ar) (ʔāya)
• Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʿuycʿ)
• Bulgarian: образец (bg) m (obrazec), пример (bg) m (primer)
• Catalan: paradigma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 範例／范例 (zh) (fànlì), 模範／模范 (zh) (mófàn),典范 (zh) (diǎnfàn)

• Czech: paradigma (cs) n
• Dutch: paradigma (nl) n
• Finnish: paradigma (fi), ajatusmalli
• French: paradigme (fr) m
• German: Beispiel (de) n, Musterbeispiel (de) n
• Hebrew: פָּרָדִיגְמָה‎ (he) f (paradigma)
• Iban: paradigma
• Icelandic: fyrirmynd (is) f, viðmið n
• Indonesian: paradigma (id)
• Italian: paradigma (it) m
• Japanese: 模範 (ja) (もはん, mohan)
• Macedonian: паради́гма f (paradígma)
• Malay: paradigma
• Polish: paradygmat (pl) m
• Portuguese: paradigma (pt) m
• Romanian: paradigmă (ro) f
• Russian: паради́гма (ru) f (paradígma), образе́ц (ru) m (obrazéc), приме́р (ru) m (primér)
• Spanish: paradigma (es) m
• Turkish: paradigma (tr)

linguistics: all forms which contain a common element

• Arabic: قياس (عِلم الصرْف)‎
• Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʿuycʿ)
• Bulgarian: парадигма (bg) f (paradigma)
• Catalan: paradigma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 词形变化表

• Czech: vzor (cs) m
• Danish: paradigme (da) n
• Dutch: paradigma (nl) n
• Faroese: bendingarmynstur n
• Finnish: paradigma (fi), taivutuskaava (fi), muotosarja (fi)
• French: paradigme (fr) m
• Georgian: პარადიგმა (ka) (ṗaradigma)
• German: Paradigma (de) n, Flexionsmuster (de) n, Flexionsschema n
• Greek: παράδειγμα (el) n (parádeigma)

  Ancient: παράδειγμα n (parádeigma)

• Iban: paradigma
• Icelandic: beygingardæmi (is) n
• Indonesian: paradigma (id)
• Italian: paradigma (it)
• Japanese: 変化表 (へんかひょう, henkahyō)
• Malay: paradigma
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: paradigme (no) n, paradigma n

  Nynorsk: paradigme n, paradigma n

• Polish: paradygmat (pl) m
• Portuguese: paradigma (pt) m
• Russian: паради́гма (ru) f (paradígma)
• Slovak: vzor m
• Spanish: paradigma (es) m
• Turkish: paradigma (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 패러다임 (paereodaim)

References

• “paradigm”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “paradigm”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "paradigm" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.