synchronic

English

Etymology

Surface analysis, syn- +‎ chron- +‎ -ic; historically, see synchronous § Etymology.

Pronunciation

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /sɪŋˈkɹɑnɪk/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɪŋˈkɹɒnɪk/, /sɪnˈkɹɒnɪk/

Adjective

synchronic (not comparable)

1. Occurring at a specific point in time.

   Antonym: diachronic

2. (linguistics) Relating to the study of a language at only one point in its history.

   Antonym: diachronic

   • 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes‎^[1], page 300:

     The three texts that contain a more modern selection of lexis, Sengupta, Nihalani et al, and Mahal, being entirely synchronic, also suffer from a lack of historical perspective.

Usage notes

• (linguistics, relating to the study of a language at only one point in its history): Synchronic comparison of two languages focuses on categorizing phenomena typologically, whereas a diachronic comparison may be looking for common origins or causes of these phenomena, viewed as genetic relationships.

Derived terms

• asynchronic
• synchronically
• synchronicity

Related terms

• synchronous
• synchronical

Translations

relating to the study of a language at only one point in its history

• Armenian: համաժամանակյա (hy) (hamažamanakya)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 共時的／共时的 (gòngshí de)

• Czech: synchronní (cs)
• French: synchronique (fr) m or f
• German: synchron (de)
• Hungarian: szinkrón (hu)
• Japanese: 共時的 (きょうじてき, kyōjiteki)
• Norman: synchronique
• Swedish: synkronisk (sv), synkron (sv)
• Turkish: senkronik (tr)