vocative

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
16
Words With Friends
19
Letters
8
Pronunciation
/ˈvɑkətɪv/
See all 4 pronunciations
/ˈvɑkətɪv/ · /ˈvoʊkətɪv/ · /ˈvɒkətɪv/ · /ˈvakətɪv/

Definition of vocative

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Of or pertaining to calling; used in calling or vocation.
See all 6 definitions

adj

  1. Of or pertaining to calling; used in calling or vocation.
  2. Used in address; appellative; said of the case or form of the noun, pronoun, or adjective by which a person or thing is addressed.
    “In English, the vocative may be indicated by an addressee–address separation comma, or by the particle O, as in "What is the matter, sir?", "Mother, listen!", or "O Lord".”

noun

  1. The vocative case
  2. A word in the vocative case
  3. A vocative expression
  4. (rare)Something said to (or as though to) a particular person or thing; an entreaty, an invocation.
    “[T]he two latter will hardly come neither, if they think it will be to hear your whining vocatives.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Late Middle English [Term?], borrowed from Middle French vocatif, from Latin vocātīvus (“for calling”); a calque of Ancient Greek κλητῐκή (klētĭkḗ, “for calling; vocative case”) – from vocāre (“to call”), from Proto-Indo-European *wokʷ-, o-grade of *wekʷ- (“give vocal utterance, speak”). See Latin vōx.

Hooks

2 extensions · 1 front · 1 back

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