sortal

S1O1R1T1A1L1

adjective

Of or pertaining to a sort, or kind.

Scrabble 6

Meanings

adjectivesortal (not comparable)
  1. not comparablehuman sciencesOf or pertaining to a sort, or kind.
    1 more example

    But, it being evident that things are ranked under names into sorts or species, only as they agree to certain abstract ideas, to which we have annexed those names, the essence of each genus, or sort, comes to be nothing but that abstract idea which the general, or sortal (if I may have leave so to call it from sort, as I do general from genus), name stands for.

    1690, John Locke, “Chapter III: Of General Terms”, in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book III
  2. not comparablehuman sciencesHaving the character of a sortal.

    The possession of sortal concepts is a prerequisite for philosophers like Wiggins or Lowe in determining the nature and extent of our referential capacities.

    2008 January 8, John E. Sarnecki, “Sortals for Dummies”, in Erkenntnis, volume 69, number 2, →DOI
nounsortal (plural sortals)

plural sortals

  1. human sciencesA type of universal that defines a particular sort of object

    And central to this notion is the distinction, among semantic types of g-words, between sortals on the one hand and non-sortal general-character-specifiers on the other

    1974, P.F. Strawson, Subject and Predicate in Logic and Grammar, →ISBN, page 135

Origin

From sort + -al. Coined by John Locke in 1690 in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sortal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sortal

MLA

“sortal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sortal. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sortal,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sortal.

Source: sortal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.