book word
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.04 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A word that is encountered in writing but not usually in speech, which people may therefore not know how to pronounce (correctly).
noun
A word that is borrowed into a vernacular from a closely related literary language, thus being etymologically related to native vocabulary, but not showing regular sound changes.
Example Sentences
- "The second, being a ‘book word,’ has quite an artificial pronunciation."
- "Book words—words that are found most often in writing but are rarely spoken—change as well but in a somewhat different way. When the communal memory of a word's pronunciation has been lost, or when speakers who have never heard a book word pronounced attempt it, then spelling will play a key role in determining the new pronunciation."
- "French loyal and légal are both from Latin lēgālis. While the former was inherited, the latter is a book word."
Etymology
From book + word.