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function word

func·tion word
F f

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [fuhngk-shuh n wurd]
    • /ˈfʌŋk ʃən wɜrd/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [fuhngk-shuh n wurd]
    • /ˈfʌŋk ʃən wɜrd/

Definitions of function word words

  • noun function word a word, as a preposition, article, auxiliary, or pronoun, that chiefly expresses grammatical relationships, has little semantic content of its own, and belongs to a small, closed class of words whose membership is relatively fixed (distinguished from content word). 1
  • noun function word a word, such as the, with a particular grammatical role but little identifiable meaning 0
  • noun function word a word, as an article or conjunction, having little or no lexical meaning but used to show syntactic relation 0
See all 3 definitions of function word

Information block about the term

Origin of function word

First appearance:

before 1935
One of the 8% newest English words
First recorded in 1935-40

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Function word

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Function word

function word popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 34% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
According to our data about 59% 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.

function word usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

Matching words

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