indeclinable
An indeclinable noun like "coffee" remains the same in all grammatical cases.
Definition
Adjective:
- Not subject to grammatical inflection: In linguistics, "indeclinable" describes a word that does not change its form to indicate grammatical case, number, gender, or tense. Such words maintain the same shape regardless of their syntactic role.
Noun (linguistics):
- An indeclinable word: A word that does not undergo inflection; it remains constant in form across different grammatical contexts.
Usage Examples
Adjective:
- In Latin, many adverbs are indeclinable, meaning they never change their spelling. (They do not alter for case or number.)
- The word "very" is an indeclinable adverb in English; it never takes endings. (It remains the same regardless of its function.)
Noun:
- Linguists classify prepositions as indeclinables because they lack inflection. (Words that do not change form.)
Advanced Usage
"Indeclinable noun": A noun that does not change form to show plural or possessive.
- "Sheep" is an indeclinable noun in English, as it is the same in both singular and plural. (It does not add -s or -es.)
"Indeclinable adjective": An adjective that does not agree with the noun it modifies in gender, number, or case.
- In Japanese, adjectives are often indeclinable, unlike in many European languages. (They do not change for grammatical context.)
Variants and Related Words
Declinable (adj): capable of being inflected (the opposite of indeclinable).
- Most nouns in English are declinable; they form plurals by adding -s. (They change form.)
Declension (n): the process or system of inflecting nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.
- Latin has five declensions for its nouns. (Patterns of inflection.)
Synonyms
- Invariable: not changing form; constant.
- Uninflected: lacking grammatical inflection.
Phrasal Verbs
- None directly: "Indeclinable" is not used in phrasal verbs.
Related Idioms
- None directly: "Indeclinable" is a technical term and does not appear in common idioms.