vernacular

[ver-nak-yuh-ler, vuh-nak-]

adjective

1. (of language) native to a place (literary ).

2. expressed or written in the native language of a place, as literary works.

   a vernacular poem.

3. using such a language.

   a vernacular speaker.

4. of or relating to such a language.

5. using plain, everyday, ordinary language.

6. of, relating to, or characteristic of architectural vernacular.

7. noting or pertaining to the common name for a plant or animal.

8. Obsolete.,  (of a disease) endemic.

noun

1. the native speech or language of a place.

2. the language or vocabulary peculiar to a class or profession.

3. a vernacular word or expression.

4. the plain variety of language in everyday use by ordinary people.

5. the common name of an animal or plant as distinguished from its Latin scientific name.

6. a style of architecture exemplifying the commonest techniques, decorative features, and materials of a particular historical period, region, or group of people.

7. any medium or mode of expression that reflects popular taste or local styles.

vernacular

/ vəˈnækjʊlə /

noun

1. the commonly spoken language or dialect of a particular people or place

2. a local style of architecture, in which ordinary houses are built

   this architect has re-created a true English vernacular

adjective

1. relating to, using, or in the vernacular

2. designating or relating to the common name of an animal or plant

3. built in the local style of ordinary houses, rather than a grand architectural style

Other Word Forms

• vernacularly adverb
• nonvernacular adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vernacular¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin vernācul(us), “household, domestic, native” (apparently adjective use of vernāculus, diminutive of verna “slave born in the master's household”; further origin uncertain) + -ar ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of vernacular¹

C17: from Latin vernāculus belonging to a household slave, from verna household slave

Synonym Study

See language.

Example Sentences

The libretto is mostly in vernacular English, except for choral interjections of the Buddhist “Diamond Sutra,” sung in Chinese.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Above all, in his numerous houses, he revived the Shingle Style, the informal and flexible 19th-century vernacular that is the most American of architectural creations.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Connolly is a fluent speaker and booster of the Irish language, which became a surprisingly important signifier in the race, as Humphreys “has no Irish,” to use the vernacular.

Read more on Salon

Before Sinatra, no other singers would have exhibited such ambition—even audacity—on behalf of either themselves or the American vernacular song.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Our critic explained that “While ‘superfine’ is a tailor’s term for the best wool suiting fabric, in the context of this show it is also dandiacal black vernacular for ‘stylin’ out.’”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• argot 
• dialect 
• idiom 
• jargon 
• lingo 
• parlance 
• patois 
• slang