content word

con·tent word

C c

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [kon-tent wurd]
- /ˈkɒn tɛnt wɜrd/
- /ˈkɒntent wɜːd/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [kon-tent wurd]
- /ˈkɒn tɛnt wɜrd/

Definitions of content word words

noun content word a word to which an independent meaning can be given by reference to a world outside any sentence in which the word may occur 3
noun content word a word, typically a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb, that carries semantic content, bearing reference to the world independently of its use within a particular sentence (distinguished from function word). 1
noun content word (linguistics) A word that is not a function word, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and most adverbs with the exception of the likes of "then" and "why". 0

See all 3 definitions of content word

Information block about the term

Origin of content word

First appearance:

before 1935

One of the 8% newest English words

First recorded in 1935-40

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Content word

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Content word

content word popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 37% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 66% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

content word usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer