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Semantics

study of meaning
Also known as: semasiology, semiotics, semology

Semantics, the philosophical and scientific study of meaning in natural and artificial languages. The term is one of a group of English words formed from the various derivatives of the Greek verb sēmainƍ (“to mean” or “to signify”). The noun semantics and the adjective semantic are derived from sēmantikos (“significant”); semiotics (adjective and noun) comes from sēmeiƍtikos (“pertaining to signs”); semiology from sēma (“sign”) + logos (“account”); and semasiology from sēmasia (“signification”) + logos. It...