Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

liminary

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: lim-i-nary
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Introductory or preparatory.

Archaic

Example Sentences

"Closely connected to the epigrammatic form of entries in alba are poems that serve as prefatory or postfatory material of early modern prints. Harm-Jan van Dam dedicates his article to this kind of liminary poetry."

Etymology

From French liminaire (“introductory”) from Latin līmināris, from līmen (“doorstep, threshold; doorway, entrance; beginning, commencement”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Līmen is possibly derived from līmus (“askew; sideways”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l- (“to bend, bow; elbow”)) + -men (suffix forming neuter nouns of the third declension) (from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ (suffix forming action nouns or result nouns from verbs)).

Origin

Source language: French

Word Breakdown

Root: liminaire, līmināris, *Heh₃l-, *-mn̥

Usage

Archaic

Inflected Forms

more liminary (comparative) most liminary (superlative)

Questions

What does liminary mean?: Introductory or preparatory.
Where does liminary come from?: It is traced to French.

How to pronounce liminary

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