pseudo-linguistics

noun

Work purporting to fall under the scholarly field of linguistics but falling short of its standards; linguistic pseudo-scholarship.

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Meanings

nounpseudo-linguistics (uncountable)

alternative pseudolinguistics

  1. uncountableWork purporting to fall under the scholarly field of linguistics but falling short of its standards; linguistic pseudo-scholarship.

    Roy Medvedev deals with the less known but even odder pseudo-linguistics of Nikolai Marr.

    Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 2 May 2004, R7

Origin

From pseudo- + linguistics. First attested 1962 (OED). Modelled on the earlier adjective pseudolinguistic (as in "pseudolinguistic science", attested 1915).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pseudo-linguistics. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudo-linguistics

MLA

“pseudo-linguistics.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudo-linguistics. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pseudo-linguistics,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudo-linguistics.

Source: pseudo-linguistics on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.