noun
pl. -·mena· a word or phrase occurring only once, as in a text or in the written record of a language
Origin of hapax legomenon
Gr, (something) said only oncehapax legomenon
ha·pax le·go·me·nonWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"hapax legomenon." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/hapax-legomenon>.
APA Style
hapax legomenon. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/hapax-legomenon
hapax legomenon
noun
pl. ha·pax le·go·me·na,A word or form that occurs only once in the recorded corpus of a given language.
Origin of hapax legomenon
Greek hapax once legomenon neuter sing. passive participle of legein to count, sayTHE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"hapax legomenon." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/hapax-legomenon>.
APA Style
hapax legomenon. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/hapax-legomenon
Usage notes
The corpus in question is generally implied by context. Commonly it will be one of:
- A known corpus of a given language
- The works of a given author
- A particular work
- A book of the Bible
- dis legomenon
- tris legomenon
Origin
From Ancient Greek ἅπαξ λεγόμενον (hapaks legomenon, “(something) said only once”), from ἅπαξ (hapaks, “once”) and λεγόμενον (legomenon), passive participle of λέγω (legō).
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"hapax legomenon." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/hapax-legomenon>.
APA Style
hapax legomenon. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/hapax-legomenon
