semantic

adj, noun — 4 senses

semantic

adj

/sɪˈmæntɪk/ · /səˈmæntək/

Etymology Borrowed from Ancient Greek σημαντικός (sēmantikós). Compare French sémantique.

1

Of or relating to semantics or the meanings of words.

2

Arts, Computing, Design, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences, Software Of code Reflecting intended structure and meaning.

3

Slang, Of a detail or distinction Petty or trivial; (of a person or statement) quibbling, niggling.

Antonyms: antisemantic
Derived terms: 53 terms
asemantic, autosemantic, biosemantic, endosemantic, episemantic, ethnosemantic, exosemantic, extrasemantic, grammaticosemantic, isosemantic, lexicosemantic, metasemantic, monosemantic, morphosemantic, neurosemantic, nonsemantic, phonosemantic, phono-semantic compound, phono-semantic matching, polysemantic, presemantic, psychosemantic, quasisemantic, semanteme, semantically, semantic analysis, semantic bleaching, semantic borrowing, semantic calque, semantic change, semantic differentiation, semantic drift, semantic field, semantician, semanticism, semanticist, semanticity, semanticization, semanticize, semantic layer, semantic loan, semantic memory, semantic net, semantic network, semantic-pragmatic disorder, semantic satiation, semantic shift, semantic tableau, semantic versioning, semantic Web, synsemantic, unsemantic, zoosemantic
Related terms: semantical, semantics, semasiology, sematic, sematology, seme, sememe, semiotic, semiotics

semantic

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Ancient Greek σημαντικός (sēmantikós). Compare French sémantique.

1

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its meaning; contrasted with phonetic.

Its semantic is polysyllabic, viz. it uses the word formations of spoken Chinese.2005, Friedrich Alexander Bischoff, Yinglin Wang, San tzu ching explicated, the classical initiation to classic Chinese couplet I to XI, page 21:
In this particular case, the semantic is on the left of its host sinogram.2013, William S-Y. Wang, Love and War in Ancient China: Voices from the Shijing, page 25:

1 more example

The 亻(人) ren2 'person' semantic has been replaced by 氵(水) shui3 'water' semantic in浸, but帚 zhou3 'broom' has phonetically or semantically nothing to do with 浸 and is just a residue of 侵 after亻(人) ren2 'person' has been removed.2017, Vladimir Skultety, Understanding Chinese Characters:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.