Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sortal

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: sor-tal
IPA

6

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Of or pertaining to a sort, or kind.

adj

Having the character of a sortal.

noun

A type of universal that defines a particular sort of object

Example Sentences

"But, it being evident that things are ranked under names into sorts or species, only as they agree to certain abstract ideas, to which we have annexed those names, the essence of each genus, or sort, comes to be nothing but that abstract idea which the general, or sortal (if I may have leave so to call it from sort, as I do general from genus), name stands for."
"The possession of sortal concepts is a prerequisite for philosophers like Wiggins or Lowe in determining the nature and extent of our referential capacities."
"And central to this notion is the distinction, among semantic types of g-words, between sortals on the one hand and non-sortal general-character-specifiers on the other"

Etymology

From sort + -al. Coined by John Locke in 1690 in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

Word Breakdown

Suffix: sort

Inflected Forms

sortals (plural)

Derived Forms

nonsortal sortalism sortalist sortalize

Phrases

Sortals in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Frequently Paired Words

Sortals in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Questions

What does sortal mean?: Of or pertaining to a sort, or kind.
Where does sortal come from?: From sort + -al. Coined by John Locke in 1690 in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

How to pronounce sortal

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