Meanings
- derogatoryhistoricalnot comparableoftenrarehuman sciencesOf or pertaining to megalocomparison.
Ironically, this interpretation also found its way into the science fiction literature of modern megalocomparative linguistics[…]
2016, Alexander Vovin, transl., edited by Alexander Vovin, Man’yōshū: A New English Translation Containing the Original Text, Kana Transliteration, Romanization, Glossing and Commentary, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, book 17, page 742 more examples
The height of Benedictine megalocomparative ingenuity is reached in the concept of split cognates, i.e. cognates that have reflexes of at most one given proto-phoneme in common, since they descend from different syllables of a polysyllabic etymon.
1990, J. A. Matisoff, “On Megalocomparison”, in Language, volume 66, number 1, →DOI, pages 106–120In a recent disquisition on very large-scale linguistic comparisons, James A. Matisoff discusses the megalocomparisons performed by Joseph H. Greenberg on Amerindian and Benedict on AT, critically appraises their megalo comparative ^([sic]) methodology […]
1992, La Vaughn H. Hayes, Mon-Khmer Studies, volume 21, pages 143–177
Origin
From megalocomparison, equivalent to megalo- + comparative. Coined by Matisoff (1990) in a critique of Joseph Greenberg's "mass comparison" (see quotation at megalocomparison).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
megalocomparative. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megalocomparative
“megalocomparative.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megalocomparative. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “megalocomparative,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megalocomparative.
Source: megalocomparative on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.