Menzerath's law

proper noun

A rule according to which the increase of a linguistic construct results in a decrease of its constituents, and vice versa: for example, the more clauses appear in a sentence, the shorter those clauses are.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. human sciencesA rule according to which the increase of a linguistic construct results in a decrease of its constituents, and vice versa: for example, the more clauses appear in a sentence, the shorter those clauses are.

Origin

Named after Paul Menzerath.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Menzerath's law. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Menzerath's%20law

MLA

“Menzerath's law.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Menzerath's%20law. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Menzerath's law,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Menzerath's%20law.

Source: Menzerath's law on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.