Homograph

A homograph (from the , and , ) is a word that shares the same written form as another word but has a different meaning. However, some dictionaries insist that the words must also be pronounced differently, while the Oxford English Dictionary says that the words should also be of "different origin". In this vein, ''The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography'' lists various types of homographs, including those in which the words are discriminated by being in a different ''word class'', such as ''hit'', the verb ''to strike'', and ''hit'', the noun ''a strike''.

If, when spoken, the meanings may be distinguished by different pronunciations, the words are also heteronyms. Words with the same writing ''and'' pronunciation (i.e. are both homographs and homophones) are considered homonyms. However, in a broader sense the term "homonym" may be applied to words with the same writing ''or'' pronunciation. Homograph disambiguation is critically important in speech synthesis, natural language processing and other fields. Identically written different senses of what is judged to be fundamentally the ''same'' word are called polysemes; for example, ''wood'' (substance) and ''wood'' (area covered with trees).

In English

Examples:
*''sow'' (verb) – to plant seed
:''sow'' (noun) – female pig
where the words are heteronyms, spelt identically but pronounced differently. Here confusion is not possible in spoken language but could occur in written language.

*''bear'' (verb) – to support or carry
:''bear'' (noun) – the animal
where the words are homonyms, identical in spelling and pronunciation (), but different in meaning and grammatical function.

The above examples are of etymologically unrelated words. Some homographs are also etymological doublets, meaning they come from the same source and are spelt the same way in Modern English, but their distinct meanings are tied to their distinct pronunciations:
*'' Dominican'' – of the Dominican Order or the Dominican Republic (fully anglicized, based on the Latin pronunciation of '' Dominicus'' , named for Saint Dominic)
:''Dominican'' – of Dominica (slightly modified from the Spanish pronunciation of ''Dominica'' , named for Latin '' diēs Dominica'' meaning "the Lord's Day" or "Sunday")
Both words ultimately come from Latin '' dominicus'' meaning "of the Lord."

*'' violist'' – viol player
:'' violist'' – viola player
Both ''viol'' and ''viola'' come from Latin '' vitula''.

More examples

In Chinese

Many Chinese varieties have homographs, called ( zh, p=duōyīnzì) or ( zh, p=chóngxíngzì), ( zh, p=pòyīnzì).

Old Chinese

Modern study of Old Chinese has found patterns that suggest a system of affixes. One pattern is the addition of the prefix , which turns transitive verbs into intransitive or passives in some cases:

Another pattern is the use of a suffix, which seems to create nouns from verbs or verbs from nouns:

Middle Chinese

Many homographs in Old Chinese also exist in Middle Chinese. Examples of homographs in Middle Chinese are:

Modern Chinese

Many homographs in Old Chinese and Middle Chinese also exist in modern Chinese varieties. Homographs which did not exist in Old Chinese or Middle Chinese often come into existence due to differences between literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters. Other homographs may have been created due to merging two different characters into the same glyph during script reform (See Simplified Chinese characters and Shinjitai).

Some examples of homographs in Cantonese from Middle Chinese are:

See also

* Synonym
* Interlingual homograph
* IDN homograph attack
* Syncretism (linguistics)
* False friend

Bibliography

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References

External links

{{Authority control

Word play
Orthography
Homonymy