corpus

[kawr-puhs]

noun

plural

corpora ,

plural

corpuses .

1. a large or complete collection of writings.

   the entire corpus of Old English poetry.

2. the body of a person or animal, especially when dead.

3. Anatomy.,  a body, mass, or part having a special character or function.

4. Linguistics.,  a body of utterances, as words or sentences, assumed to be representative of and used for lexical, grammatical, or other linguistic analysis.

5. a principal or capital sum, as opposed to interest or income.

corpus

/ ˈkɔːpəs /

noun

1. a collection or body of writings, esp by a single author or on a specific topic

   the corpus of Dickens' works

2. the main body, section, or substance of something

3. anatomy

   1. any distinct mass or body

   2. the main part of an organ or structure

4. the inner layer or layers of cells of the meristem at a shoot tip, which produces the vascular tissue and pith Compare tunica

5. linguistics a body of data, esp the finite collection of grammatical sentences of a language that a linguistic theory seeks to describe by means of an algorithm

6. a capital or principal sum, as contrasted with a derived income

7. obsolete,  a human or animal body, esp a dead one

Word History and Origins

Origin of corpus¹

First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English, from Latin

Word History and Origins

Origin of corpus¹

C14: from Latin: body

When To Use

What does corpus mean?

Corpus most commonly refers to a large or comprehensive collection of creative works, such as all of the writings of a particular author.An artist’s corpus is their body of work, and in fact the word corpus comes from the Latin word meaning “body.” (This Latin word appears in the well-known legal phrase habeas corpus, meaning “(you may) have the body.”)More generally, corpus is used in English to refer to the main body, section, or substance of something.The word is used in a more specific way in linguistics to refer to an entire set of a particular linguistic element within a language, such as words or sentences.It’s also used in several more specific ways in the context of anatomy in the names of body parts.The correct plural of corpus can be either corpora or corpuses. (Other Latin-derived words can be pluralized in the same way as corpora.)Example: Instead of devoting my dissertation to examining a specific theme throughout her corpus, I decided to focus on a single work.