Meanings
nounglosseme (plural glossemes)
plural glossemes
- The smallest irreducible unit of both the content and expression planes of language; the basic unit of language in the theory of glossematics.
We can now for a moment leave Hjelmslev's own conception of such a system—based upon glossematic formal definitions—and ask: to which degree can this system of glossemes be defended from a general phonological or phonetic point of view?
2022, B. Elan Dresher, Harry van der Hulst, editors, The Oxford History of Phonology, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 341
Origin
From gloss- + -eme, coined by Louis Hjelmslev and Hans Jørgen Uldall in the 1930s.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German Glossem
- Glossemsmallest irreducible unit of language
Italian glossema
- glossemasmallest irreducible unit of language
Russian глоссема
- глоссема (glossema)smallest irreducible unit of language
Cite this entry
APA
glosseme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glosseme
MLA
“glosseme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glosseme. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glosseme,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glosseme.
Source: glosseme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.