idiom

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See also: Idiom and idióm

English

Etymology

From Middle French idiome, and its source, Late Latin idioma, from Ancient Greek ἰδίωμα (idíōma, a peculiarity, property, a peculiar phraseology, idiom), from ἰδιοῦσθαι (idioûsthai, to make one's own, appropriate to oneself), from ἴδιος (ídios, one's own, pertaining to oneself, private, personal, peculiar, separate).

Pronunciation

Noun

idiom (plural idioms or idiomata) (sometimes used uncountably)

  1. A manner of speaking, a mode of expression peculiar to a language, language family, or group of people.
    In English, idiom requires the indefinite article in a phrase such as "she's an engineer", whereas in Spanish, idiom forbids it.
    Some of the usage prescriptions improved clarity and were kept; others that yielded discordant violations of idiom were eventually revised.
    Synonyms: idiomaticness, idiomaticity
    1. (programming) A programming construct or phraseology that is characteristic of the language.
      • 2005, Magnus Lie Hetland, Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional, →ISBN, page 100:
        I have to use the same assignment and call to raw_input in two places. How can I avoid that? I can use the while True/break idiom: []
  2. A language or language variety; specifically, a restricted dialect used in a given historical period, context etc.
    In the idiom of the day, they were sutlers, although today they'd probably be called vendors.
    • 2010 January 13, Christopher Hitchens, “The Other L-Word”, in Vanity Fair:
      Many parents and teachers have become irritated to the point of distraction at the way the weed-style growth of "like" has spread through the idiom of the young.
  3. An established phrasal expression whose meaning may not be deducible from the literal meanings of its component words.
    She often spoke in idioms, pining for salad days and complaining about pots calling the kettle black.
    • 2008, Patricia Hampl, “You’re History”, in Patricia Hampl, Elaine Tyler May, editors, Tell Me True: Memoir, History, and Writing a Life, Minnesota Historical Society, →ISBN, page 134:
      You’re history, we say [] . Surely it is an American idiom. Impossible to imagine a postwar European saying, “You’re history. . . . That’s history,” meaning fuhgeddaboudit, pal.
  4. An artistic style (for example, in art, architecture, or music); an instance of such a style.
    the idiom of the expressionists

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

Noun

idiom m inan

  1. idiom (established expression whose meaning is not deducible from the literal meanings of its component words)
    • 1972, Nový orient:
      Před běžným „Nashledanou", které Peršané vyjadřují slovy „nechť je Bůh vaším opatrovníkem", dáme přednost idiomu „vaše laskavost nebo pozornost je (byla) nesmírná" nebo „nechť se vysoká laskavost nezmenší" ...
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1985, Studie a práce linguistické:
      Stejně málo významné byly pro IF pokusy přiblížit význam idiomů ve vágních pojmech přenesenosti, obraznosti, průhlednosti apod.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1996, Časopis pro moderní filologii:
      Trochu konzervativní český uživatel Schemannova slovníku bude možná zpočátku postrádat u některých idiomů jejich vysvětlení, jak byl zvyklý kupříkladu z dosud (do r. 1993) nejobsažnějšího slovníku tohoto typu ...
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 2005, Zdeněk Stříbrný, Proud času:
      Vyjádřil to pěkným anglickým idiomem „They have added insult to your injury“.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 2014, František Čermák, Jazyk a slovník. Vybrané lingvistické studie:
      U idiomů pak můžeme postulovat existenci především početných sekundárních symbolů (otevřená hlava), popř. ikonů (kamenný obličej), méně často však už sekundárních indexů (co do, kór když).
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Further reading

  • idiom”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • idiom”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • idiom in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz
  • idiom in Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny, czechency.org
  • Česká frazeologie, Naše řeč (1984)

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English idiom, from Middle French idiome, and its source, Late Latin idioma, from Ancient Greek ἰδίωμα (idíōma, a peculiarity, property, a peculiar phraseology, idiom), from ἰδιοῦσθαι (idioûsthai, to make one's own, appropriate to oneself), from ἴδιος (ídios, one's own, pertaining to oneself, private, personal, peculiar, separate).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /iˈdi.ɔm/
  • Rhymes: -ɔm
  • Hyphenation: i‧di‧om

Noun

idiom

  1. idiom
    1. an established phrasal expression whose meaning may not be deducible from the literal meanings of its component words
    2. an artistic style (for example, in art, architecture, or music); an instance of such a style
    3. (rare outside formal context) a manner of speaking, a mode of expression peculiar to a language, language family, or group of people
      Synonym: logat

Further reading

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

Internationalism; compare English idiom, French idiome, German Idiom, ultimately from Late Latin idiōma, from Ancient Greek ἰδίωμα (idíōma).

Pronunciation

Noun

idiom m inan (diminutive idiomek)

  1. (lexicography, rhetoric) idiom, phraseme, phraseological unit, phraseologism, set expression, set phrase, turn of phrase
    Synonyms: frazeologizm, idiomat, idiomatyzm, związek frazeologiczny
  2. idiom (artistic style)
    Synonyms: idiomat, idiomatyka
  3. (dated, linguistics, rare) idiom (language or language variety)
    Synonym: idiomatyzm

Declension

Derived terms

adjective
adjective
adverb
nouns

Further reading

  • idiom in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • idiom in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French idiome.

Pronunciation

Noun

idiom n (plural idiomuri)

  1. idiom

Declension

singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative idiom idiomul idiomuri idiomurile
genitive-dative idiom idiomului idiomuri idiomurilor
vocative idiomule idiomurilor

Further reading

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /idǐoːm/
  • Hyphenation: i‧di‧om

Noun

idìōm m (Cyrillic spelling идѝо̄м)

  1. idiom (idiomatic expression)
  2. idiom (artistic style)
  3. (linguistics) idiom (language or language variety)

Declension