Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Syntax |
SyntaxNoun1. The grammatical arrangement of words in sentences. 2. A systematic orderly arrangement. 3. Studies of the rules for forming admissible sentences. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "syntax" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Etymology: Syntax \Syn"tax\, noun. [Latin expression syntaxis, Greek, from to put together in order; sy`n with to put in order; compare to French syntaxe. See Syn-, and Tactics.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Syntax The structure of strings in some language. A language's syntax is described by a grammar. For example, the syntax of a binary number could be expressed as binary_number = bit [ binary_number ] bit = "0" | "1" meaning that a binary number is a bit optionally followed by a binary number and a bit is a literal zero or one digit. The meaning of the language is given by its semantics. See also abstract syntax, concrete syntax. (1994-10-31). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing. |
Slang in 1811 | SYNTAX. A schoolmaster. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A subfield of linguistics, syntax is the study of the rules, or "patterned relations," that govern the way the words in a sentence come together. It concerns how different words which are categorized as nouns, adjectives, verbs etc. (goes back to Dionysios Trax) are combined into clauses which in turn combine into sentences.
Fields and subfields withinlinguistics. |
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In the framework of transformational-generative grammar (see also transformational grammar for information on the development of the theory) the structure of a sentence is represented by Phrase Structure Trees. Such a tree provides three types of information about the sentence it represents:
The analysis of programming language syntax usually entails the transformation of a linear sequence of tokens (a token is akin to an individual word or punctuation mark in a natural language) into a hierarchical syntax tree (abstract syntax trees are one convenient form of syntax tree). This process, called parsing, is in some respects analogous to syntactic analysis in linguistics; in fact, certain concepts, such as the Chomsky hierarchy and context-free grammars, are common to the study of syntax in both linguistics and computer science. However, the applications of these concepts vary widely between the two fields, and the practical resemblances are small.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Syntax."
Synonyms: SyntaxSynonyms: phrase structure (n), sentence structure (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Grammar | Noun: grammar, accidence, syntax, praxis, punctuation; parts of speech; jussive; syllabication; inflection, case, declension, conjugation; us et norma loquendi; Lindley Murray; (schoolbook); correct style, philology; (language). Verb: parse, punctuate, syllabicate. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Syntax |
| English words defined with "syntax": checking program, colloquial, conversational ♦ grammarian, grammatical rule ♦ investigate ♦ look into ♦ Mongol, Mongolian ♦ Parataxis ♦ rule of grammar ♦ syntactic, syntactical, syntactically, syntactician, syntax checker, syntax error, syntax language, Syntaxis. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "syntax": abstract syntax, abstract syntax tree ♦ concrete syntax ♦ declared concrete syntax, Doctor Syntax ♦ infix syntax ♦ postfix syntax, prefix syntax ♦ syntax check, syntax directed translation, syntax tree ♦ transfer syntax. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "syntax": Syntaxis. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Syntax" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Czech (syntax), German (syntax), Swedish (syntax). |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Doctor Syntax, in the middle of a smoaking hot political squabble, wishes to whet his whistle / Rowlandson del. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Argot, whether we consent to it or not, has its syntax and its poesy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Syntax" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.83% of the time. "Syntax" is used about 581 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.83% | 580 | 10,911 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.17% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 581 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "syntax": abstract syntax ♦ abstract syntax notation ♦ abstract Syntax Notation 1 ♦ abstract syntax tree ♦ concrete syntax ♦ declared concrete syntax ♦ infix syntax ♦ postfix syntax ♦ prefix syntax ♦ syntax analysis ♦ syntax check ♦ syntax checker ♦ syntax directed translation ♦ syntax error ♦ syntax language ♦ syntax tree ♦ transfer syntax. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "syntax": Syntax-Case, syntax-driven, syntax-free, syntax-variation. | |
Ending with "syntax": Pragmatics-semantics-syntax, surface-syntax. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "syntax"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | sintaksë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | تركيب الجملة, بناء الجملة. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | синтаксис. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | "語 (user of words), 句法. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | syntax, skladba (composition, piece). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | syntaks. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | syntaxis, zinsleer, zinsbouw. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | sintakso. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | هم اهنگی قسمتهای مختلف , ترکیب (Admixture, Blend, Composition, Compound, Confection, Feature, Form, Mixture, Physique, Structure, Zygosis), علم نحو. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | syntaksi, muotosäännöt, muotorakenne, kielioppi (grammar). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | syntaxe. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Syntax, satzbau (sentence construction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σύνταξη (authorship, compilation, old age pension, pension, redaction, superannuation), συντακτικό. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | תורת "ס' ון, תחביר, שמוש "לשון. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | mondattan. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | tata kalimat, ilmu kalimat. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | sintassi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 語法 (diction, grammar), 統語論 , 措辞法 , 文 論 , 構文法 , 構文 (sentence structure), シンクロ納入 (Cincinatti, Cinderella, Cinderella boy, Cinderella complex, cymbals, one-base hit, one-handed catch, scintigram, scintillation camera, single, single bed, single cut, single match, single mother, single player, single-breasted suit, singles, sympathetic, sympathizer, sympathy, synchronous supply, syncopation, syndicate, syndicate loan, syndrome, synthesizer, thinner). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | そじほう, ぶ"しょうろ", "ほう (defense of the constitution or religious doctrines, diction, grammar, incorrect report, misinformation, noon gun), "うぶ"ぽう, "うぶ" (archives, official document, sentence structure, writing), シンタックス , シンタクス , とう"ろ". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 통어 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | coreir (proportion), co-ordrail. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | yntaxsay sintaxe. (various references) sintaxã. (various references) синтаксис (syntaxes). (various references) sintaksa. (various references) sintaxis. (various references) syntax. (various references) sentaks, sözdizimi kuralları, sözdizimi, kanıtlanım teorisi, cümle kuruluxu. (various references) sintaksis (r). (various references) синтаксис. (various references) cystrawen (construction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | syntaxis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "syntax": syntaxes. (additional references) | |
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"Syntax" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: astynax, sanitact, sentax, siento, sintax, sntax, syantax, synatax, syntasx, syntaxe, syntaz, syntex, syntrax, systax. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "syntax" (pronounced si"nta'ks) |
| 4 | -t a' k s | aftertax, counterattacks, overtax, smokestacks, surtax. |
| 3 | -a' k s | backpacks, borax, buybacks, climax, comebacks, cutbacks, drawbacks, earwax, flashbacks, galax, givebacks, greenbacks, gunnysacks, hemophiliacs, kickbacks, knickknacks, leasebacks, leatherbacks, lilacs, maniacs, mesothorax, metathorax, nymphomaniacs, paperbacks, parallax, pullbacks, quarterbacks, racetracks, razorbacks, rollbacks, setbacks, skipjacks, soundtracks, tarmacs, wisecracks. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-n-s-t-x-y" | |
-1 letter: antsy, nasty, tansy. | |
-2 letters: ants, nays, stay, tans, xyst. | |
-3 letters: ant, any, ays, nay, sat, sax, say, sty, syn, tan, tas, tax. | |
-4 letters: an, as, at, ax, ay, na, ta, ya. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-n-s-t-x-y" | |
+2 letters: syntaxes. | |
+4 letters: oxygenates. | |
+5 letters: anxiolytics, expansivity, oxygenators. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
