grammaticalize

American  

[gruh-mat-i-kuh-lahyz] / grəˈmæt ɪ kəˌlaɪz /

especially British, gramaticalise

verb (used with object)

Linguistics.

grammaticalized, grammaticalizing

1. to convert (a content word or part of one) into a functor, as in using OE līc, “body,” as a suffix in adjectives and adverbs, such as OE frēondlīc, “friendly.”

2. to represent (semantic features) by grammatical categories, as plurality in English or gender in French.

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Other Word Forms

• grammaticalization noun

Etymology

Origin of grammaticalize

First recorded in 1935–40; grammatical + -ize