subsubsense

S1U1B3S1U1B3S1E1N1S1E1

noun

A subsense of a subsense.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

nounsubsubsense (plural subsubsenses)

plural subsubsenses

  1. rareA subsense of a subsense.

    To simplify the discussion, I will assume that the lexeme has no subsenses, subsubsenses, etc.—although this is seldom the case in actuality.

    1986, International Federation of Translators, Babel, page 44
    2 more examples

    The Oxford English Dictionary gives scores of different senses, subsenses, and subsubsenses for "eat" whereas the Hanyu Da Cidian offers about a score of different senses for chi; most of the extended, figurative, and slang usages of chi ("eat") are very recent – within the last century or two.

    1998, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Reviews, volume 8, →ISBN, page 82

    The paired sense data can be classified as one of four levels of similarity: the Roman-numeralled homograph level (band-I (group) vs band-II (ring)), the major sense level (band-I.1 (music group) vs band-I.2 (other group)), the subsense level (which we arbitrarily use to refer to the distance between a general sense number such as I.1 and its specialization (I.1.2)), and finally the subsubsense level (such as between I.1.1 and I.1.2).[…]In contrast, at the finer subsubsense level only 52 per cent of the given pairs were translated differently.

    2005, Sampson, Geoffrey, McCarthy, Diana, editors, Corpus Linguistics: Readings in a Widening Discipline, A & C Black, →ISBN, pages 365–367

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Italic*supo
  3. Latinsub
  4. Latinsub-
  5. Englishsub-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*sent-
  7. Proto-Italic*sentiō
  8. Latinsentiō
  9. Latinsēnsu
  10. Proto-Germanic*sinnaz
  11. Frankish*sinn
  12. Vulgar Latin*sennus
  13. Old Frenchsens
  14. Middle Englishsense
  15. Englishsense
  16. Englishsubsense
  17. Englishsubsubsense

From sub- + subsense.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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