speech act | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

2247 entries found.

1550s, in grammar, "to state the part of speech of a word or the words in a sentence," a verbal use of Middle English pars (n.) "part of speech" (c. 1300), from Old French pars, plural of part "a part," from Latin pars "a part, piece" (from PIE root *pere- (2) "to grant, allot") in the school question, Quae pars orationis? "What part of speech?" Transferred (non-grammatical) use is by 1788. Pars also was a common plural of part (n.) in early Middle English. Related: Parsed; parsing.

blandishment (n.)

"flattering speech," 1590s, from blandish + -ment. Sense of "that which pleases, allurement" (often blandishments) is from 1590s.

dat

representing the pronunciation of that in West Indian, Irish, or African-American vernacular speech, from 1680s.

preverbal (adj.)

also pre-verbal, "prior to or present before the development of speech," 1931, from pre- "before" + verbal.

dem

representing pronunciation of them in Jamaican speech, from 1868. As a minced form of damn, attested from late 14c.

majorly (adv.)

by 1887, from major (adj.) + -ly (2). Common in popular U.S. colloquial speech from c. 1995.

tagline (n.)

"punchline of a joke," 1926, originally "last line in an actor's speech" (1916), from tag (n.1) + line (n.).

logograph (n.)

"instrument for giving a graphic representation of speech, word-writer," 1879, from logo- "word" + -graph "instrument for recording; something written." Earliest use (1797) is in the sense "logogriph," and it frequently was used in place of that word (see logogriph). In ancient Greek, logographos was "prose-writer, chronicler, speech-writer." Related: Logographic.

aforesaid (adj.)

"mentioned before in a preceding part of the same writing or speech," a common legal word, late 14c., from afore + said.

e'en

variant spelling of even (adj.), now archaic or poetic. E'enamost "even almost" is recorded from 1735 in Kentish speech.

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