paradigm

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English paradygme,^[1] borrowed from Late Latin paradīgma (“pattern, example”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which was a technical term of rhetoric from the late 3rd century and in grammar meant a table of inflected forms.^[7] The Latin word is borrowed from Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (parádeigma, “pattern, model, precedent, example”),^[7][6][8][4] from παραδείκνυμι (paradeíknumi, “to show side by side, compare”),^[1][6][8] from παρά (pará, “beside”) and δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to show”).^[9][6][4] The OED analyses the Greek noun as παρα- (para-) and δεῖγμα (deîgma, “sample, pattern”), after the verb.^[7] The Greek verb is cognate with Latin dīcō (“to say”),^[6][9] from Proto-Indo-European *deik- (“to show”).^[6] Klein and Weekley derived the English word through French paradigme,^[9][10] which the OED records only from 1584.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pattern or model, an example: 1483, in Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The grammatical sense, a table of all the inflected forms of a word, is recorded from 1660 in the OED,^[7] though Hoad dates it to the 16th century.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave only "example".^[11] In linguistics, from 1966, it also meant a set of forms that can replace each other in a given context.^[7] The sense that made the word fashionable came from Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962): a model of thought and method that underlies the theories and practice of a science at a particular time,^[7][6] and then a generally accepted view of the world.^[7] The adjective paradigmatic is recorded from 1662, as a shortening of paradigmatical (1577).^[3]

Timeline

• 1483 – a pattern, model or example.^[7][8]
• 1577 – the adjective paradigmatical.^[3]
• 1660 – grammar, a table of the inflected forms of a word.^[7]
• 1662 – the adjective paradigmatic.^[3]
• 1943 – rhetoric, a figure of speech comparing by resemblance (rare).^[7]
• 1962 – the conceptual model underlying a science, in Kuhn.^[7][6]
• 1966 – linguistics, a set of interchangeable units.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pattern or model; a typical or especially clear example: Her early novels became the paradigm for the genre.^[12][2][13]
2. A set of assumptions, concepts and practices that form a way of seeing reality, especially the framework of a scientific discipline at a given time.^{[2][12][13][7]}
3. In grammar, the set of all the inflected forms of a word, or a table showing them: the paradigm of a strong verb.^[2][13][7]
4. In linguistics, a set of units that can be substituted for one another in a given context.^[7]

Word family

• paradigmatic
• paradigmatically

Related words

• deictic
• diction
• teach

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster gives the plural as paradigms or, less often, paradigmata,^[12] and the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster record a pronunciation of the last syllable rhyming with dim beside the usual one rhyming with dime.^[2][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins