vocable

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English

WOTD – 12 September 2012

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English vocable, from Middle French vocable and its etymon, Latin vocābulum, from vocō (“I call”).[1]

Noun

vocable (plural vocables)

  1. (linguistics) A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than its meaning.
    • 1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament:
      Without words and almost with the seriousness of asylum nurses they at once set upon an unsavoury-looking matron who began to cry out Mediterranean vocables of distress.
    • 1925, John Buchan, The House of the Four Winds:
      At first the man puzzled; then he smiled. He pronounced a string of uncouth vocables.
  2. (music) A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in place of actual words in a song.
    • a. 2010, Victoria Lindsay Levine, Native American Music, Encyclopaedia Britannica:
      Many Native American songs employ vocables, syllables that do not have referential meaning. These may be used to frame words or may be inserted among them; in some cases, they constitute the entire song text.
Translations

Etymology 2

From Latin vocō +‎ -able.[2]

Adjective

vocable (not comparable)

  1. (linguistics) Able to be uttered.
    a vocable marker
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

References

  1. ^ “vocable, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ “vocable, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vocābulum.

Pronunciation

Noun

vocable m (plural vocables)

  1. term

Further reading

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