Etymologically
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paradigm

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/[1]

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

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