corpus fetishism

noun

An insistence that the only valid source of illustrative examples of words or language constructs is from the corpus (existing body of literature) of the language

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Meanings

nouncorpus fetishism (uncountable)
  1. uncountablehuman sciencesAn insistence that the only valid source of illustrative examples of words or language constructs is from the corpus (existing body of literature) of the language

Origin

Probably coined by linguist Geoffrey Pullum. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000122.htmlhttp://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000058.html

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

corpus fetishism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/corpus%20fetishism

MLA

“corpus fetishism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/corpus%20fetishism. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “corpus fetishism,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/corpus%20fetishism.

Source: corpus fetishism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.