vocable

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French vocable or Latin vocābulum, from Latin vocō (I call).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

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.
    • a. 2010, Victoria Lindsay Levine, Native American Music, Encyclopaedia Britannica:
      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[edit]

Adjective[edit]

vocable (not comparable)

  1. (linguistics) Able to be uttered.
    a vocable marker

Synonyms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Learned borrowing from Latin vocābulum.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

vocable m (plural vocables)

  1. term

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]