vocable

American  

[voh-kuh-buhl] / ˈvoʊ kə bəl /

noun

1. a word; term; name.

2. a word considered only as a combination of certain sounds or letters, without regard to meaning.

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adjective

1. capable of being spoken.

vocable British  

/ ˈvəʊkəbəl /

noun

1. any word, either written or spoken, regarded simply as a sequence of letters or spoken sounds, irrespective of its meaning

2. a vocal sound; vowel

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adjective

1. capable of being uttered

Other Word Forms

• nonvocable
  adjective
• unvocable
  adjective
• vocably
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of vocable

1520–30; < Latin vocābulum a word, a name, equivalent to vocā ( re ) to call + -bulum noun suffix

Example Sentences

Then the wrath of the old Inspector became vocable.

From The Red Acorn by McElroy, John

"Well might Adam Littleton call this an heptastic vocable, rather than a word."

From Old and New London Volume I by Thornbury, Walter

I regret to see that vile and barbarous vocable talented, stealing out of the newspapers into the leading reviews and most respectable publications of the day.

From Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Coleridge, Henry Nelson

Thus, ‘people’ is indeed ‘populus’, but it was ‘peuple’ first, while ‘popular’ is a direct transfer of a Latin vocable into our English glossary.

From English Past and Present by Palmer, Abram Smythe

But they who make the noun one and the vocable an other, reckon nine.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold

Related Words

• concept
• expression
• name
• phrase
• sound
• term