CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-disabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Wiktionary:English entry guidelines - Wiktionary, the free dictionary</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-disabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwiktionarymwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat" :"dmy","wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"2cd65855-f0cd-4a0b-b4f9-c7dcf4eca885","wgCanonicalNamespace":"Project","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":4,"wgPageName":"Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines","wgTitle":"English entry guidelines","wgCurRevisionId":80102292,"wgRevisionId":80102292,"wgArticleId":1776571,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Pages using invalid parameters when calling Template:policy-TT","Wiktionary pages with shortcuts","Wiktionary think tank policies","Pages containing style information","Wiktionary language considerations","English language"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines","wgRelevantArticleId":1776571,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true, "wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgRedirectedFrom":"Wiktionary:About_English","wgNoticeProject":"wiktionary","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":true,"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":30000,"wgInternalRedirectTargetUrl":"/wiki/Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines","wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgDiscussionToolsFeaturesEnabled":{"replytool":true,"newtopictool":true,"sourcemodetoolbar":true,"topicsubscription":false,"autotopicsub":false,"visualenhancements":false,"visualenhancements_reply":false,"visualenhancements_pageframe":false},"wgDiscussionToolsFallbackEditMode":"source","wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false, "wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q30450179","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"]};RLSTATE={"ext.gadget.LanguagesAndScripts":"ready","ext.gadget.Palette":"ready","ext.gadget.Site":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","ext.discussionTools.init.styles":"ready","oojs-ui-core.styles":"ready","oojs-ui.styles.indicators":"ready","mediawiki.widgets.styles":"ready","oojs-ui-core.icons":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.wikimediaBadges":"ready"}; RLPAGEMODULES=["mediawiki.action.view.redirect","ext.cite.ux-enhancements","site","mediawiki.page.ready","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.LegacyScripts","ext.gadget.RevdelInfo","ext.gadget.PagePreviews","ext.gadget.Edittools","ext.gadget.defaultVisibilityToggles","ext.gadget.UnsupportedTitles","ext.gadget.WiktGadgetPrefs","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","mmv.bootstrap","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.discussionTools.init","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","wikibase.sidebar.tracking"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.discussionTools.init.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediaBadges%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cmediawiki.widgets.styles%7Coojs-ui-core.icons%2Cstyles%7Coojs-ui.styles.indicators%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.gadget.LanguagesAndScripts%2CPalette%2CSite&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.5"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Wiktionary"> <meta property="og:title" content="Wiktionary:English entry guidelines - Wiktionary, the free dictionary"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wiktionary/en.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wiktionary/en.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wiktionary (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wiktionary.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wiktionary Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="ext-discussiontools-replytool-enabled ext-discussiontools-newtopictool-enabled ext-discussiontools-sourcemodetoolbar-enabled skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-4 ns-subject mw-editable page-Wiktionary_English_entry_guidelines rootpage-Wiktionary_English_entry_guidelines skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-text" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page"><span>Main Page</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Community_portal" title="About the project, what you can do, where to find things"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-requestedarticles" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Requested_entries"><span>Requested entries</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes in the wiki [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Load a random page [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random entry</span></a></li><li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Help:Contents" title="The place to find out"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-Glossary" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary"><span>Glossary</span></a></li><li id="n-contact" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Contact_us"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/enwiktionary.svg" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wiktionary" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wiktionary-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 6.6875em; height: 1.1875em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Dictionary" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wiktionary-tagline-en.svg" width="110" height="15" style="width: 6.875em; height: 0.9375em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wiktionary [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wiktionary" aria-label="Search Wiktionary" autocapitalize="none" title="Search Wiktionary [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="//donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wiktionary.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donations</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Wiktionary%3AEnglish+entry+guidelines" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Wiktionary%3AEnglish+entry+guidelines" title="You are encouraged to log in; however, it is not mandatory [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="More options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="//donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wiktionary.org&uselang=en"><span>Donations</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Wiktionary%3AEnglish+entry+guidelines" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Wiktionary%3AEnglish+entry+guidelines" title="You are encouraged to log in; however, it is not mandatory [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">Beginning</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Etymology" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Etymology"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Etymology</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Etymology-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Pronunciation" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Pronunciation"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Pronunciation</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Pronunciation-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Orthography" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Orthography"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Orthography</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Orthography-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Orthography subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Orthography-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Regional_differences" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Regional_differences"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Regional differences</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Regional_differences-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Abbreviations,_acronyms_and_initialisms" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Abbreviations,_acronyms_and_initialisms"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Abbreviations,_acronyms_and_initialisms-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Phrases" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Phrases"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.3</span> <span>Phrases</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Phrases-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Parts_of_Speech" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Parts_of_Speech"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Parts of Speech</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Parts_of_Speech-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Parts of Speech subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Parts_of_Speech-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Parts_of_Speech_headers_for_multi-word_terms" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Parts_of_Speech_headers_for_multi-word_terms"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.1</span> <span>Parts of Speech headers for multi-word terms</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Parts_of_Speech_headers_for_multi-word_terms-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Criteria_for_inclusion" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Criteria_for_inclusion"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Criteria for inclusion</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Criteria_for_inclusion-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Criteria for inclusion subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Criteria_for_inclusion-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Modern_English_possessives" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Modern_English_possessives"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.1</span> <span>Modern English possessives</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Modern_English_possessives-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Adjective_and_adverb_comparative_and_superlative_forms" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Adjective_and_adverb_comparative_and_superlative_forms"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.2</span> <span>Adjective and adverb comparative and superlative forms</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Adjective_and_adverb_comparative_and_superlative_forms-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Headword-line_templates" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Headword-line_templates"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Headword-line templates</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Headword-line_templates-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Headword-line templates subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Headword-line_templates-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Nouns" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Nouns"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.1</span> <span>Nouns</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Nouns-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Verbs" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Verbs"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.2</span> <span>Verbs</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Verbs-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Adjectives" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Adjectives"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.3</span> <span>Adjectives</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Adjectives-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Adverbs" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Adverbs"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.4</span> <span>Adverbs</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Adverbs-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.5</span> <span>Other</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Special_treatment" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Special_treatment"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>Special treatment</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Special_treatment-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_English_aids" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_English_aids"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>Other English aids</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other_English_aids-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-namespace">Wiktionary</span><span class="mw-page-title-separator">:</span><span class="mw-page-title-main">English entry guidelines</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 6 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-6" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">6 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Englisch" title="Wiktionary:Englisch – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Wiktionary:Englisch" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikcionario:Referencia/EN" title="Wikcionario:Referencia/EN – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Wikcionario:Referencia/EN" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wiktionary.org/wiki/Aldono:Angla" title="Aldono:Angla – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Aldono:Angla" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wiktionary.org/wiki/%EC%9C%84%ED%82%A4%EB%82%B1%EB%A7%90%EC%82%AC%EC%A0%84:%EC%98%81%EC%96%B4_%ED%8E%B8%EC%A7%91%EB%B6%80" title="위키낱말사전:영어 편집부 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="위키낱말사전:영어 편집부" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wiktionary.org/wiki/WikiWoordenboek:Engels" title="WikiWoordenboek:Engels – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="WikiWoordenboek:Engels" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8C:%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82:%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA" title="Викисловарь:Проект:Английский язык – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Викисловарь:Проект:Английский язык" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q30450179#sitelinks-wiktionary" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-project" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines" title="View the project page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Project page</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary_talk:English_entry_guidelines" rel="discussion" title="Discussion about the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Discussion</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines" title="A list of all wiki pages that link here [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard?uselang=en" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&oldid=80102292" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2FWiktionary%3AEnglish_entry_guidelines"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2FWiktionary%3AEnglish_entry_guidelines"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-create_a_book" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator&referer=Wiktionary%3AEnglish+entry+guidelines"><span>Create a book</span></a></li><li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Wiktionary%3AEnglish_entry_guidelines&action=show-download-screen"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q30450179" title="Link to connected data repository item [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wiktionary, the free dictionary</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"><span class="mw-redirectedfrom">(Redirected from <a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:About_English&redirect=no" class="mw-redirect" title="Wiktionary:About English">Wiktionary:About English</a>)</span></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><sup class="error previewonly"><small>The template <a href="/wiki/Template:policy-TT" title="Template:policy-TT">Template:policy-TT</a> does not use the parameter(s): <pre>1=Language considerations (English)</pre> Please see <a href="/wiki/Module:checkparams" title="Module:checkparams">Module:checkparams</a> for help with this warning.</small></sup><p><span class="attentionseeking" title="The template Template:policy-TT does not use the parameter(s): 1=Language considerations (English). Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning."></span><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r81599729">.mw-parser-output .policy-box{border-top:3px;border-bottom:3px;border-style:solid;border-left:0px;border-right:0px;text-align:center;width:95%;margin:auto;margin-bottom:0.5em;padding:5px 0px}.mw-parser-output .policy-box .policy-box-image{width:72px}.mw-parser-output .policy-box{background-color:#F5F5F5;border-color:#888}.mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-official{background-color:#F3F5FF;border-color:#88F}.mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-dp{background-color:#F3F5FF;border-color:#88F}.mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-ed{background-color:#FFF3FF;border-color:#D4D}.mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-tt{background-color:#F3FFF5;border-color:#4A4}.mw-parser-output .policy-box.page-inactive{background-color:#F5F5F5;border-color:#999}.mw-parser-output .policy-box.page-obsolete{background-color:#F3F5F4;border-color:#666}.mw-parser-output .policy-box.essay-box{background:none}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .policy-box{background-color:#252525;border-color:#666}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-official{background-color:#23252F;border-color:#66B}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-dp{background-color:#23252F;border-color:#66B}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-ed{background-color:#2F232F;border-color:#838}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-tt{background-color:#232F25;border-color:#383}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .policy-box.page-inactive{background-color:#252525;border-color:#666}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .policy-box.page-obsolete{background-color:#232524;border-color:#444}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .policy-box.essay-box{background:none}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .policy-box{background-color:#252525;border-color:#666}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-official{background-color:#23252F;border-color:#66B}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-dp{background-color:#23252F;border-color:#66B}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-ed{background-color:#2F232F;border-color:#838}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .policy-box.policy-tt{background-color:#232F25;border-color:#383}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .policy-box.page-inactive{background-color:#252525;border-color:#666}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .policy-box.page-obsolete{background-color:#232524;border-color:#444}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .policy-box.essay-box{background:none}}</style> </p><table role="presentation" class="policy-box policy-tt"> <tbody><tr> <td rowspan="2" class="policy-box-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Accessories-text-editor.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="link={{{imglink}}}"><img alt="link={{{imglink}}}" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Accessories-text-editor.svg/50px-Accessories-text-editor.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Accessories-text-editor.svg/75px-Accessories-text-editor.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Accessories-text-editor.svg/100px-Accessories-text-editor.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48"/></a></span> </td> <td>This is a <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Policies_and_guidelines" title="Wiktionary:Policies and guidelines">Wiktionary policy, guideline or common practices page</a>. Specifically it is a policy <b>think tank</b>, working to develop a formal policy. </td></tr> <tr> <td><b>Policies</b> – Entries: <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Criteria_for_inclusion" title="Wiktionary:Criteria for inclusion">CFI</a> - <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Entry_layout" title="Wiktionary:Entry layout">EL</a> - <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Normalization_of_entries" title="Wiktionary:Normalization of entries">NORM</a> - <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Neutral_point_of_view" title="Wiktionary:Neutral point of view">NPOV</a> - <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Quotations" title="Wiktionary:Quotations">QUOTE</a> - <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Redirections" title="Wiktionary:Redirections">REDIR</a> - <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Page_deletion_guidelines" title="Wiktionary:Page deletion guidelines">DELETE</a>. Languages: <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Language_treatment" title="Wiktionary:Language treatment">LT</a> - <a href="/wiki/Category:Wiktionary_language_considerations" title="Category:Wiktionary language considerations">AXX</a>. Others: <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Blocking_policy" title="Wiktionary:Blocking policy">BLOCK</a> - <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Bots" title="Wiktionary:Bots">BOTS</a> - <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Voting_policy" title="Wiktionary:Voting policy">VOTES</a>. </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="noprint plainlinks shortcut-box"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Shortcut" class="mw-redirect" title="Wiktionary:Shortcut">Shortcut</a>:<br/><code><a class="external text" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:AEN&redirect=no">WT:AEN</a></code></div> <div class="disambig-see-also-2"><i>Main category:</i> <b><a href="/wiki/Category:English_language" title="Category:English language">English language</a></b></div> <hr/> <p>This page deals with the specific issues of English entries on Wiktionary. For language-independent guidelines for entries see <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Entry_layout" title="Wiktionary:Entry layout">Wiktionary:Entry layout</a>. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc"/> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Etymology" data-mw-thread-id="h-Etymology"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Etymology"></span>Etymology<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Etymology"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Etymology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="disambig-see-also"><i>See also:</i> <b class="Latn"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Etymology" title="Wiktionary:Etymology">Etymology</a></b></div> <p>See the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:English language">history of English language</a> on Wikipedia. The ancestors of Modern English (1500 to present) are, in order: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English" class="extiw" title="w:Middle English">Middle English</a> (1150 to 1500), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English" class="extiw" title="w:Old English">Old English</a> (450 to 1150), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Germanic" class="extiw" title="w:Proto-Germanic">Proto-Germanic</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European" class="extiw" title="w:Proto-Indo-European">Proto-Indo-European</a>. </p><p>Webster’s early dictionaries used three terms where Wiktionary and modern convention is to use two. Thus, where Webster uses “AS.” (Anglo-Saxon), we speak of “Old English”; where Webster uses “OE.” (Old English), we speak of “(the early period of) Middle English”; where Webster uses “ME.” (Middle English), we speak of “(the late period of) Middle English”. </p><p>English has also borrowed extensively from other languages. Key waves of borrowings into English are from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Norse" class="extiw" title="w:Old Norse">Old Norse</a> (<code>non</code>); <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Norman_language" class="extiw" title="w:Anglo-Norman language">Anglo-Norman</a> (<code>xno</code>); <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language" class="extiw" title="w:French language">French</a> (<code>fr</code>); <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin" class="extiw" title="w:Latin">Latin</a> (<code>la</code>; see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_influence_in_English" class="extiw" title="w:Latin influence in English">Latin influence in English</a>); and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" class="extiw" title="w:Ancient Greek">Ancient Greek</a> (<code>grc</code>). Note however that many French words were borrowed via Anglo-Norman (from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_French" class="extiw" title="w:Old French">Old French</a> (<code>fro</code>)), with the main borrowing from French happening from the 14th century with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_French" class="extiw" title="w:Middle French">Middle French</a> (<code>frm</code>); many Latin words were borrowed via French, and others are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/classical_compound" class="extiw" title="w:classical compound">classical compounds</a>, which instead of being borrowed are modern coinages based on nativized <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/combining_form" class="extiw" title="w:combining form">combining forms</a> (e.g., <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/biology#English" title="biology">biology</a></i> is not borrowed from Ancient Greek, but is coined from <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/bio-#English" title="bio-">bio-</a></i> + <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/-logy#English" title="-logy">-logy</a></i>); and many Ancient Greek words were borrowed via Latin (and often then via French), and others are classical compounds. In modern times, English has borrowed from a great many languages. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Pronunciation" data-mw-thread-id="h-Pronunciation"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Pronunciation"></span>Pronunciation<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Pronunciation"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Pronunciation"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>See <b><a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_pronunciation" title="Appendix:English pronunciation">Appendix:English pronunciation</a></b> </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_dialect-dependent_homophones" title="Appendix:English dialect-dependent homophones">Appendix:English dialect-dependent homophones</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_dialect-independent_homophones" title="Appendix:English dialect-independent homophones">Appendix:English dialect-independent homophones</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_pronunciation_differences" class="extiw" title="w:American and British English pronunciation differences">w:American and British English pronunciation differences</a></li></ul> <p>UK English pronunciations should give the <a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a> of the entry. </p><p>The <i>r</i> phoneme used in English in words like <i>red</i>, <i>green</i> and <i>orange</i> is to be represented with /ɹ/ instead of /r/, except in accents where it is actually a trill.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Orthography" data-mw-thread-id="h-Orthography"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Orthography"></span>Orthography<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Orthography"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Orthography"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Regional_differences" data-mw-thread-id="h-Regional_differences-Orthography"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Regional_differences-Orthography"></span>Regional differences<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Regional_differences-Orthography"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Regional differences"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="disambig-see-also"><i>See also:</i> <b class="Latn"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:American and British English differences">American and British English differences</a></b></div> <p>If a word is spelled differently in different standard varieties of English, the spelling (that is, the entry) which was created first is made the lemma; to avoid unmaintainable duplication of content, other spellings soft-redirect to it. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Abbreviations,_acronyms_and_initialisms" data-mw-thread-id="h-Abbreviations,_acronyms_and_initialisms-Orthography"><span id="Abbreviations.2C_acronyms_and_initialisms"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Abbreviations,_acronyms_and_initialisms-Orthography"></span>Abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Abbreviations,_acronyms_and_initialisms-Orthography"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The orthography of abbreviations (e.g. <a href="/wiki/Rev." title="Rev.">Rev.</a>), acronyms (e.g. <a href="/wiki/AIDS" title="AIDS">AIDS</a>) and initialisms (e.g. <a href="/wiki/CEO" title="CEO">CEO</a>) have several regional and historical differences. Here we outline the spelling that the “main” entries for these terms should have as well as list acceptable differences that can be soft-redirects to the main entry. </p> <dl><dt>Full stops/Periods</dt></dl> <p>Historically, with a less literate population, all types of abbreviations were written with periods to denote the deleted parts of the original term. Today this usage is not as common. The main entry for acronyms, initialisms, and “contraction” abbreviations (e.g. <a href="/wiki/Dr" title="Dr">Dr</a> for “D<s>octo</s>r”) should be spelled without a period whereas “truncation” abbreviations (<a href="/wiki/abbr." title="abbr.">abbr.</a> for “abbr<s>eviation</s>”) should be spelled with a period. An exception to this rule is when the reverse form is vastly more common (e.g. <a href="/wiki/P.S." title="P.S.">P.S.</a> for <a href="/wiki/postscript" title="postscript">postscript</a>). Ellipsis may also be shown using the slash ‘<a href="/wiki//" title="/">/</a>’ (<a href="/wiki/w/o" title="w/o">w/o</a> and <a href="/wiki/a/c" title="a/c">a/c</a>) and numbers representing the length of deleted part (so <a href="/wiki/l10n" class="mw-redirect" title="l10n">l10n</a> for <a href="/wiki/localization" title="localization">localization</a>). Common variants include: </p> <ul><li>Some American English style guides, such as the <i>New York Times</i>, recommend periods for initialisms but not acronyms (so <a href="/wiki/D.B.A." title="D.B.A.">D.B.A.</a> but <a href="/wiki/AIDS" title="AIDS">AIDS</a>). The rationale is that this usage hints to the reader that each letter in the initialism is pronounced.</li> <li>In American English, the period is usually added if the abbreviation might otherwise be interpreted as a word.</li> <li>Sometimes periods are used for certain initialisms but not others; a notable instance in American English is to write United States and European Union as <a href="/wiki/U.S." title="U.S.">U.S.</a> and <a href="/wiki/EU" title="EU">EU</a> respectively.</li> <li>Some remove periods from all abbreviations, so <i>St</i> can symbolize both <i>Street</i> and <i>Saint</i>.</li></ul> <dl><dt>Capitalization</dt></dl> <p>Almost all initialisms and acronyms are spelled with all letters capitalized. Exceptions include words that have become fully naturalized over time (<a href="/wiki/laser" title="laser">laser</a> is more common now than <a href="/wiki/LASER" title="LASER">LASER</a>) and cases where individual letters may be lower-case if for instance they were not a word-initial letter in the original term (<a href="/wiki/PhD" title="PhD">P<b>h</b>D</a>). Abbreviations are in all lower-case (<a href="/wiki/km" title="km">km</a> for <a href="/wiki/kilometer" title="kilometer">kilometer</a>) except where the originally term was capitalized (so <a href="/wiki/Lev." title="Lev.">Lev.</a> for <a href="/wiki/Leviticus" title="Leviticus">Leviticus</a>). Common variants include: </p> <ul><li>Some publishers only capitalize the first letter of acronyms to distinguish them from initialisms (so <a href="/wiki/Aids" title="Aids">Aids</a> but <a href="/wiki/USA" title="USA">USA</a>).</li> <li>Some publishers retain only the initial capital for acronyms longer than four letters (So <a href="/wiki/AIDS" title="AIDS">AIDS</a> but <a href="/wiki/Wysiwyg" title="Wysiwyg">Wysiwyg</a>). They do this to avoid the appearance of “shouting capitals”.</li></ul> <dl><dt>Spacing</dt></dl> <p>The main entry for initialisms and acronyms should be spelled without spaces, so ‘<a href="/wiki/U.S." title="U.S.">U.S.</a>’ instead of ‘<a href="/wiki/U._S." title="U. S.">U. S.</a>’ (note: for this example, ‘<a href="/wiki/US" title="US">US</a>’ is the main entry). </p> <dl><dt>Plurals</dt></dl> <p>The traditional style of pluralizing single letters with the addition of <a href="/wiki/-%27s" title="-'s">-’s</a> (for example, <i>B’s come after A’s</i>) was extended to some of the earliest initialisms. Modern usage however inflects all types of abbreviations like nouns by adding <a href="/wiki/-s" title="-s">-s</a> (e.g. <a href="/wiki/MP" title="MP">MPs</a>). The logic here is that the apostrophe should be restricted to possessives: for example, <i>the <b>CD’s</b> label</i> (the label of the compact disc). There are some exceptions: </p> <ol><li>When the abbreviation is understood to describe a plural noun already: for example, <i>US</i> is short for <i>United State<b>s</b></i>, but not *<i>United State</i>.</li> <li>An apostrophe may be used in rare cases where clarity calls for it, for example when letters or symbols are referred to as objects or when the final letter of an abbreviation is S. <dl><dd><i>The x’s of the equation</i></dd> <dd><i>SOS’s</i></dd></dl></li> <li>In Latin, and continuing to the derivative forms in English, single-letter abbreviations had the plural being a doubling of the letter for note-taking. <dl><dd><i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/p.#English" title="p.">p.</a></i> <span class="mention-gloss-paren annotation-paren">(</span><span class="mention-gloss-double-quote">“</span><span class="mention-gloss">page</span><span class="mention-gloss-double-quote">”</span><span class="mention-gloss-paren annotation-paren">)</span> → <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/pp.#English" title="pp.">pp.</a></i> <span class="mention-gloss-paren annotation-paren">(</span><span class="mention-gloss-double-quote">“</span><span class="mention-gloss">pages</span><span class="mention-gloss-double-quote">”</span><span class="mention-gloss-paren annotation-paren">)</span></dd></dl></li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Phrases" data-mw-thread-id="h-Phrases-Orthography"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Phrases-Orthography"></span>Phrases<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Phrases-Orthography"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Phrases"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Many phrases take several forms. It is not necessary to include every conceivable variant. When present, minor variants should simply redirect to the main entry. For the main entry, prefer the most generic and simplistic form. </p> <dl><dt>Pronouns</dt></dl> <p>Prefer the generic personal pronoun, <i>one</i> or <i>one’s</i> or <i>someone</i> or <i>someone’s</i>, to pronouns like <i>you</i> or <i>his</i>. Thus, <i><a href="/wiki/feel_one%27s_oats" title="feel one's oats">feel one’s oats</a></i> is preferable to <i>feel his oats</i>. Use of other personal pronouns, especially in the singular, should be avoided except where they are essential to the meaning. For pronouns in verb phrases, “one(’s)” and “oneself” are used to indicate that the referent is usually the same as the subject of the (<a href="/wiki/reflexive" title="reflexive">reflexive</a>) verb and “someone(’s)” is used to indicate that the referent is often different from the subject. The pronoun <i><a href="/wiki/someone" title="someone">someone</a></i> is preferred in entry titles to <i><a href="/wiki/somebody" title="somebody">somebody</a></i>, the <i>somebody</i> forms may exist as redirects to the <i>someone</i> forms in these cases </p> <dl><dt>Articles</dt></dl> <p>Omit an initial article unless it makes a difference in the meaning. For example, <a href="/wiki/bomb" title="bomb">bomb</a> and <a href="/wiki/the_bomb" title="the bomb">the bomb</a> have distinct meanings. Another example of a phrase that typically appears with an article is <a href="/wiki/the_bends" class="mw-redirect" title="the bends">the bends</a>. </p> <dl><dt>Verbs</dt></dl> <p>Use the infinitive form of the verb (but without “to”) for the principal verb of a verbal phrase. Thus for the saying <i>It’s raining cats and dogs,</i> or <i>It was raining cats and dogs,</i> or <i>I think it’s going to rain cats and dogs any minute now,</i> or <i>It’s rained cats and dogs for the last week solid</i> the entry should be at <a href="/wiki/rain_cats_and_dogs" title="rain cats and dogs">rain cats and dogs</a>. The other variants are derived by the usual rules of grammar (including the use of <i>it</i> with weather terms and other <a href="/wiki/impersonal_verb" title="impersonal verb">impersonal verbs</a>). </p> <dl><dt>Capitalization</dt></dl> <p>A proverb entry’s title begins with a lowercase letter, whether it is a full sentence or not. The first word may still be capitalized on its own: </p> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/you_can%27t_judge_a_book_by_its_cover" title="you can't judge a book by its cover">you can’t judge a book by its cover</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Rome_wasn%27t_built_in_a_day" title="Rome wasn't built in a day">Rome wasn’t built in a day</a></i></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Parts_of_Speech" data-mw-thread-id="h-Parts_of_Speech"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Parts_of_Speech"></span>Parts of Speech<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Parts_of_Speech"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Parts of Speech"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>This is basically a level 3 header but may be a level 4 or higher when multiple etymologies or pronunciations are a factor. This header most often shows the part of speech, but is not restricted to “parts of speech” in the traditional sense. The classical parts of speech are: </p> <div class="derivedterms ul-column-count" data-column-count="3"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/verb" title="verb">verb</a> (<a href="/wiki/speak" title="speak">speak</a>) – <a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_verbs" title="Appendix:English verbs">Appendix</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/noun" title="noun">noun</a> (<a href="/wiki/speech" title="speech">speech</a>) – <a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_nouns" title="Appendix:English nouns">Appendix</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/pronoun" title="pronoun">pronoun</a> (<a href="/wiki/you" title="you">you</a>) – <a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_pronouns" title="Appendix:English pronouns">Appendix</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/conjunction" title="conjunction">conjunction</a> (<a href="/wiki/and" title="and">and</a>, <a href="/wiki/but" title="but">but</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/adverb" title="adverb">adverb</a> (<a href="/wiki/quickly" title="quickly">quickly</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/adjective" title="adjective">adjective</a> (<a href="/wiki/quick" title="quick">quick</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/interjection" title="interjection">interjection</a> (<a href="/wiki/ouch" title="ouch">ouch</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/preposition" title="preposition">preposition</a> (<a href="/wiki/on" title="on">on</a>, <a href="/wiki/at" title="at">at</a>)</li></ul> </div> <p>Additional commonly used grammatical headers are: </p> <div class="derivedterms ul-column-count" data-column-count="3"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/particle" title="particle">particle</a> (<a href="/wiki/to#Particle" title="to">to</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/prefix" title="prefix">prefix</a> (<a href="/wiki/de-" title="de-">de-</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/infix" title="infix">infix</a> (<a href="/wiki/-bloody-" title="-bloody-">-bloody-</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/interfix" title="interfix">interfix</a> (<a href="/wiki/-calci-" title="-calci-">-calci-</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/suffix" title="suffix">suffix</a> (<a href="/wiki/-ness" title="-ness">-ness</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/determiner" title="determiner">determiner</a> (<a href="/wiki/all" title="all">all</a>, <a href="/wiki/each" title="each">each</a>) – See <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Beer_parlour_archive/2007/January#Tests_for_English_determiners" class="mw-redirect" title="Wiktionary:Beer parlour archive/2007/January">tests for English determiners</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/proper_noun" title="proper noun">proper noun</a> (<a href="/wiki/Russia" title="Russia">Russia</a>) – <a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_proper_nouns" title="Appendix:English proper nouns">Appendix</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/article" title="article">article</a> (<a href="/wiki/a" title="a">a</a>, <a href="/wiki/the" title="the">the</a>) – <a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_articles" title="Appendix:English articles">Appendix</a></li></ul> </div> <p>In addition to these headers, there are other descriptors that identify the usage of the entry, but which are not (strictly speaking) parts of speech: </p> <div class="derivedterms ul-column-count" data-column-count="3"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/contraction" title="contraction">contraction</a> (<a href="/wiki/I%27ve" title="I've">I’ve</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/letter" title="letter">letter</a> (<a href="/wiki/k" title="k">k</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/symbol" title="symbol">symbol</a> (<a href="/wiki/%E2%84%85" title="℅">℅</a>), <i>most are <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:AMUL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wiktionary:AMUL">Translingual</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/phrase" title="phrase">phrase</a> (<a href="/wiki/do_the_math" title="do the math">do the math</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/proverb" title="proverb">proverb</a> (<a href="/wiki/discretion_is_the_better_part_of_valour" title="discretion is the better part of valour">discretion is the better part of valour</a>)</li></ul> </div> <p>Certain oddities of the way in which numbers are used in English has led to the use of: </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/numeral" title="numeral">numeral</a> (<a href="/wiki/one" title="one">one</a>, <a href="/wiki/ten" title="ten">ten</a>)</li></ul> <p>Debated headers </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/idiom" title="idiom">idiom</a> (<a href="/wiki/rain_cats_and_dogs" title="rain cats and dogs">rain cats and dogs</a>) – Idioms are indicated at the sense line or in a category. All idioms that can not be assigned a traditional PoS header (usually Noun or Verb) can be deemed Phrases.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/postposition" title="postposition">postposition</a> (<a href="/wiki/aside" title="aside">aside</a> and <a href="/wiki/notwithstanding" title="notwithstanding">notwithstanding</a>) – <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Tea_room/2009/September#Treating_"Postposition"_as_a_POS_with_its_own_header" title="Wiktionary:Tea room/2009/September">Discussion</a> reached a consensus to use <b>Preposition</b> for all <a href="/wiki/adpositions" title="adpositions">adpositions</a>.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/clitic" title="clitic">clitic</a> (<a href="/wiki/-%27s" title="-'s">-’s</a>, <a href="/wiki/%27d" title="'d">’d</a>) – While entries should note that they are clitics, the POS header used is <b>Suffix</b> for <a href="/wiki/enclitics" title="enclitics">enclitics</a>, <b>prefix</b> for <a href="/wiki/proclitics" title="proclitics">proclitics</a>, etc.</li> <li><b>XXX form</b> (“Noun form”, “Verb form”) – Just use the “form”-less header (“Noun”, “Verb”).</li> <li><a href="/wiki/number" title="number">number</a>, <a href="/wiki/numeral" title="numeral">numeral</a>, <a href="/wiki/ordinal_number" title="ordinal number">ordinal number</a> – There is no consensus on the exact use of these headers.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Parts_of_Speech_headers_for_multi-word_terms" data-mw-thread-id="h-Parts_of_Speech_headers_for_multi-word_terms-Parts_of_Speech"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Parts_of_Speech_headers_for_multi-word_terms-Parts_of_Speech"></span>Parts of Speech headers for multi-word terms<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Parts_of_Speech_headers_for_multi-word_terms-Parts_of_Speech"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Parts of Speech headers for multi-word terms"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Many multi-word terms can readily be assigned to such categories as Noun or Verb. Those categories are taken to mean “<a href="/wiki/noun_phrase" title="noun phrase">noun phrase</a>” or “<a href="/wiki/verb_phrase" title="verb phrase">verb phrase</a>” respectively. Phrasal verbs are assigned to the category “Verb”. Many idioms have grammatical forms of noun or verb phrases. Some multi-word entries may be adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, or interjections. In some cases the appropriate category is not at all obvious and may be disputed by grammar authorities. In such cases the category and header “Phrase” may be appropriate. Prepositional phrases should be placed in <a href="/wiki/Category:English_prepositional_phrases" title="Category:English prepositional phrases">Category:English prepositional phrases</a> and shown are Adverbs and/or Adjectives by their common use. Most prepositional phrases can function both as if they were adjectives and as if they were adverbs. It is sometimes hard to distinguish nouns used attributively and adjectives, but <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:English_adjectives" title="Wiktionary:English adjectives">Wiktionary:English adjectives</a> outlines some tests. </p><p>Proverbs are a special category that usually has the form of a sentence and always the force of a sentence. They may be elliptical references to a full sentence that constitutes the underlying proverb. We have yet to formalize criteria for determining whether a given entry should appear under a Proverb rather than a Phrase header. </p><p>Multiword terms may merit inclusion in categories which indicate their grammar more precisely than the header, such as <a href="/wiki/Category:English_prepositional_phrases" title="Category:English prepositional phrases">Category:English prepositional phrases</a> or <a href="/wiki/Category:English_phrasal_verbs" title="Category:English phrasal verbs">Category:English phrasal verbs</a>. Some entries (not Proverbs) are full sentences with noun as subject and verb and should be placed in <a href="/wiki/Category:English_sentences" title="Category:English sentences">Category:English sentences</a>. Items appearing under the Phrase header, in particular, may need some further grammatical categorization. </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:English_subordinate_clauses" title="Category:English subordinate clauses">Category:English subordinate clauses</a> contains items that begin with a subordinating conjunction and have a subject and verb and do not require a complement.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:English_coordinates" title="Category:English coordinates">Category:English coordinates</a> contains items that are not clauses which begin with a co-ordinating conjunction. Examples are list terminators (<a href="/wiki/etc" title="etc">etc</a>, <a href="/wiki/and_all" title="and all">and all</a>) and expressions involving other conjunctions that seem to form an idiom.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:English_non-constituents" title="Category:English non-constituents">Category:English non-constituents</a> contains items not otherwise classified that appear to comprise elements that would usually be analyzed as not part of separate grammatical elements in an utterance. The entries in this category may make be useful for users because they embody a structural relationship that forms a coherent cognitive concept.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Criteria_for_inclusion" data-mw-thread-id="h-Criteria_for_inclusion"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Criteria_for_inclusion"></span>Criteria for inclusion<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Criteria_for_inclusion"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Criteria for inclusion"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Aside from Wiktionary's general <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Criteria_for_inclusion" title="Wiktionary:Criteria for inclusion">criteria for inclusion</a>, there are some restrictions specific to English. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Modern_English_possessives" data-mw-thread-id="h-Modern_English_possessives-Criteria_for_inclusion"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Modern_English_possessives-Criteria_for_inclusion"></span>Modern English possessives<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Modern_English_possessives-Criteria_for_inclusion"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Modern English possessives"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>It is community consensus not to provide entries for Modern English possessive forms which are formed by adding the <a href="/wiki/enclitics" title="enclitics">enclitics</a> <i><a href="/wiki/-%27s" title="-'s">-’s</a></i> or <i><a href="/wiki/-%27" title="-'">-’</a></i>, and which are otherwise not <a href="/wiki/idiomatic" title="idiomatic">idiomatic</a> (with the single exception of the pronoun <i><a href="/wiki/one%27s" title="one's">one’s</a></i>). Pronunciation transcriptions for possessive forms of words, if necessary, can be given in the pronunciation sections of the words’ entries.<sup><a class="external text" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Beer_parlour&oldid=2808028#Exclusion_of_possessive_case_WT:VOTE_.28again.29">EXPLANATION</a> <a class="external text" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Votes/pl-2007-07/exclusion_of_possessive_case&oldid=2809498">VOTE</a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Adjective_and_adverb_comparative_and_superlative_forms" data-mw-thread-id="h-Adjective_and_adverb_comparative_and_superlative_forms-Criteria_for_inclusion"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Adjective_and_adverb_comparative_and_superlative_forms-Criteria_for_inclusion"></span>Adjective and adverb comparative and superlative forms<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Adjective_and_adverb_comparative_and_superlative_forms-Criteria_for_inclusion"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Adjective and adverb comparative and superlative forms"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>When they meet <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Criteria_for_inclusion" title="Wiktionary:Criteria for inclusion">Wiktionary's criteria for inclusion</a>, single-word comparative and superlative forms such as <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/newer#English" title="newer">newer</a></i>, <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/newest#English" title="newest">newest</a></i>, <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/faster#English" title="faster">faster</a></i><span class="serial-comma">,</span> and <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/fastest#English" title="fastest">fastest</a></i> are allowed. Comparatives and superlatives formed using <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/more#English" title="more">more</a></i> and <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/wiki/most#English" title="most">most</a></i> are <i>not</i> considered idiomatic and should not have their own entries. For example, <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/w/index.php?title=more_excitable&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="more excitable (page does not exist)">more excitable</a></i> and <i class="Latn mention" lang="en"><a href="/w/index.php?title=most_excitable&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="most excitable (page does not exist)">most excitable</a></i> do not exist. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Headword-line_templates" data-mw-thread-id="h-Headword-line_templates"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Headword-line_templates"></span>Headword-line templates<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Headword-line_templates"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Headword-line templates"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="disambig-see-also"><i>See also:</i> <b class="Latn"><a href="/wiki/Category:English_headword-line_templates" title="Category:English headword-line templates">Category:English headword-line templates</a></b></div> <p>English headword-line templates should be used on the <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Glossary#H" title="Wiktionary:Glossary">headword line</a> for all English entries. They list the headword and its key inflections, providing consistent layout and giving the Wiktionary community the flexibility to evolve inflection lines’ display styles, automatic categorization, and personalization options (see <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:CUSTOM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wiktionary:CUSTOM">WT:CUSTOM</a>). If no headword-line template is available for a particular situation, the generic template <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:head#top" title="Template:head">head</a>}}</code> should be used. Many older entries simply write the headword directly in the page surrounded by three quotes (<code>'''word'''</code>), but this is deprecated and should be replaced by the appropriate template. </p><p>All of the templates here should be transcluded (e.g. {{en-noun}}), they do not work when substituted (e.g. {{subst:en-noun}}). For regular entries, parameters are often not required. For instructions on how to use each of the individual templates, see their documentation pages. </p><p>For multi-word proper entries, the headword can be overridden with the parameter <code>head=</code> to specify wiki syntax (e.g. “<code>{{en-noun|head=...|...s}}</code>”, “<code>{{en-verb|head=...|...s|...ing|...d}}</code>”, and “<code>{{en-adj|head=...|...er|...est}}</code>”). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Nouns" data-mw-thread-id="h-Nouns-Headword-line_templates"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Nouns-Headword-line_templates"></span>Nouns<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Nouns-Headword-line_templates"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Nouns"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Use <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-noun#top" title="Template:en-noun">en-noun</a>}}</code> for most nouns. <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/w/index.php?title=Template:en-plural_noun&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Template:en-plural noun (page does not exist)">en-plural noun</a>}}</code> is used for plural nouns that have no singular form. A quick guide: </p> <table class="wikitable" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <th>code </th> <th>result </th></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun}}</code></td> <td><b>noun</b> (<i>plural</i> <b><a href="/wiki/nouns" title="nouns">nouns</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun|es}}</code></td> <td><b>church</b> (<i>plural</i> <b><a href="/wiki/churches" title="churches">churches</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun|belfries}}</code></td> <td><b>belfry</b> (<i>plural</i> <b><a href="/wiki/belfries" title="belfries">belfries</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun|-}}</code></td> <td><b>awe</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/uncountable" title="uncountable">uncountable</a></i>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun|~}}</code></td> <td><b>beer</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/countable" title="countable">countable</a> and <a href="/wiki/uncountable" title="uncountable">uncountable</a>,</i> <i>plural</i> <b><a href="/wiki/beers" title="beers">beers</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun|?}}</code></td> <td><b>awe</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun|head=[[hot]] [[dog]]}}</code></td> <td><b><a href="/wiki/hot" title="hot">hot</a> <a href="/wiki/dog" title="dog">dog</a></b> (<i>plural</i> <b><a href="/wiki/hot_dogs" title="hot dogs">hot dogs</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun|head=[[shoe]] [[polish]]|es}}</code></td> <td><b><a href="/wiki/shoe" title="shoe">shoe</a> <a href="/wiki/polish" title="polish">polish</a></b> (<i>plural</i> <b><a href="/wiki/shoe_polishes" title="shoe polishes">shoe polishes</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-noun|head=[[chain]][[man]]|chainmen}}</code></td> <td><b><a href="/wiki/chain" title="chain">chain</a><a href="/wiki/man" title="man">man</a></b> (<i>plural</i> <b><a href="/wiki/chainmen" title="chainmen">chainmen</a></b>) </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Verbs" data-mw-thread-id="h-Verbs-Headword-line_templates"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Verbs-Headword-line_templates"></span>Verbs<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Verbs-Headword-line_templates"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Verbs"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>For <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-verb#top" title="Template:en-verb">en-verb</a>}}</code>. Many verbs form the third-person singular by adding <i><a href="/wiki/-s" title="-s">-s</a></i>, the past by adding <i><a href="/wiki/-ed" title="-ed">-ed</a></i>, and the present participle by adding <i><a href="/wiki/-ing" title="-ing">-ing</a></i>. For such verbs, no parameters are necessary: </p> <table class="wikitable" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <th>code </th> <th>result </th></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb}}</code></td> <td><b>play</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/plays" title="plays">plays</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/playing" title="playing">playing</a></b>, <i>simple past and past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/played" title="played">played</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb|scratch|es}}</code></td> <td><b>scratch</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/scratches" title="scratches">scratches</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/scratching" title="scratching">scratching</a></b>, <i>simple past and past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/scratched" title="scratched">scratched</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb|free|d}}</code></td> <td><b>free</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/frees" title="frees">frees</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/freeing" title="freeing">freeing</a></b>, <i>simple past and past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/freed" title="freed">freed</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb|admir|ing}}</code></td> <td><b>admire</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/admires" title="admires">admires</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/admiring" title="admiring">admiring</a></b>, <i>simple past and past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/admired" title="admired">admired</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb|sets|setting|set}}</code></td> <td><b>set</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/sets" title="sets">sets</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/setting" title="setting">setting</a></b>, <i>simple past and past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/set" title="set">set</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb|does|doing|did|done}}</code></td> <td><b>do</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/does" title="does">does</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/doing" title="doing">doing</a></b>, <i>simple past</i> <b><a href="/wiki/did" title="did">did</a></b>, <i>past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/done" title="done">done</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb| [[works]] | [[working]] | '''[[worked]]''' ''or obsolete'', '''[[wrought]]'''}}</code></td> <td><b>work</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/works" title="works">works</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/working" title="working">working</a></b>, <i>simple past and past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/worked" title="worked">worked</a></b> <i>or obsolete</i>, <b><a href="/wiki/wrought" title="wrought">wrought</a></b>) </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Multi-word verbs have a little more code to add: asterisks and commas. </p> <table class="wikitable" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <th>code </th> <th>result </th></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb|*}}</code></td> <td><b>play up</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/plays_up" title="plays up">plays up</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/playing_up" title="playing up">playing up</a></b>, <i>simple past and past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/played_up" title="played up">played up</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-verb|set<,,set> up}}</code></td> <td><b>set up</b> (<i>third-person singular simple present</i> <b><a href="/wiki/sets_up" title="sets up">sets up</a></b>, <i>present participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/setting_up" title="setting up">setting up</a></b>, <i>simple past and past participle</i> <b><a href="/wiki/set_up" title="set up">set up</a></b>) </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Adjectives" data-mw-thread-id="h-Adjectives-Headword-line_templates"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Adjectives-Headword-line_templates"></span>Adjectives<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Adjectives-Headword-line_templates"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Adjectives"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Use <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-adj#top" title="Template:en-adj">en-adj</a>}}</code> to show the inflection line of an English adjective. </p><p>This template shows the adjective in bold (optionally linking its components) and its comparative and superlative inflections, if any. </p> <table class="wikitable" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <th>code </th> <th>result </th></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adj}}</code></td> <td><b>beautiful</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b>more beautiful</b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b>most beautiful</b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adj|er}}</code></td> <td><b>tall</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/taller" title="taller">taller</a></b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/tallest" title="tallest">tallest</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adj|later}}</code></td> <td><b>late</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/later" title="later">later</a></b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/latest" title="latest">latest</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adj|better|sup=best}}</code></td> <td><b>good</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/better" title="better">better</a></b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/best" title="best">best</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adj|er|more}}</code></td> <td><b>abject</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/abjecter" title="abjecter">abjecter</a></b> <i>or</i> <b>more abject</b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/abjectest" title="abjectest">abjectest</a></b> <i>or</i> <b>most abject</b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adj|-}}</code></td> <td><b>annual</b> (<i>not <a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparable</a></i>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adj|?}}</code></td> <td><b>disliked</b> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Adverbs" data-mw-thread-id="h-Adverbs-Headword-line_templates"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Adverbs-Headword-line_templates"></span>Adverbs<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Adverbs-Headword-line_templates"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Adverbs"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Use <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-adv#top" title="Template:en-adv">en-adv</a>}}</code> to show the inflection line of an English adverb. </p><p>This template shows the adverb in bold (optionally linking its components) and its comparative and superlative inflections, if any. </p> <table class="wikitable" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <th>code </th> <th>result </th></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adv}}</code></td> <td><b>beautifully</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b>more beautifully</b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b>most beautifully</b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adv|er}}</code></td> <td><b>fast</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/faster" title="faster">faster</a></b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/fastest" title="fastest">fastest</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adv|later}}</code></td> <td><b>late</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/later" title="later">later</a></b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/latest" title="latest">latest</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adv|better|sup=best}}</code></td> <td><b>well</b> (<i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/better" title="better">better</a></b>, <i><a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b><a href="/wiki/best" title="best">best</a></b>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adv|-}}</code></td> <td><b>uniquely</b> (<i>not <a href="/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparable</a></i>) </td></tr> <tr> <td><code>{{en-adv|?}}</code></td> <td><b>relatedly</b> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Other" data-mw-thread-id="h-Other-Headword-line_templates"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Other-Headword-line_templates"></span>Other<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Other-Headword-line_templates"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Other"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>These templates are generally placed on entries without any modification. </p> <ul><li><b>Conjunctions</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-con#top" title="Template:en-con">en-con</a>}}</code></li> <li><b>Interjections</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-interj#top" title="Template:en-interj">en-interj</a>}}</code></li> <li><b>Prepositions</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-prep#top" title="Template:en-prep">en-prep</a>}}</code></li> <li><b>Determiners</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-det#top" title="Template:en-det">en-det</a>}}</code></li> <li><b>Proper noun</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-proper_noun#top" title="Template:en-proper noun">en-proper noun</a>}}</code></li> <li><b>Contraction</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-cont#top" title="Template:en-cont">en-cont</a>}}</code></li></ul> <p>Usage of generic <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:head#top" title="Template:head">head</a>}}</code> </p> <ul><li><b>Prefix</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:head#top" title="Template:head">head</a>|en|prefix}}</code></li> <li><b>Infixes</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:head#top" title="Template:head">head</a>|en|infix|sort=bloody}}</code></li> <li><b>Suffix</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:head#top" title="Template:head">head</a>|en|suffix|sort=ness}}</code></li></ul> <p>Templates for types of entries that will not need much more work: </p> <ul><li><b>Pronouns</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:en-pron#top" title="Template:en-pron">en-pron</a>}}</code></li> <li><b>Articles</b>: <code style="white-space:pre-wrap">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:head#top" title="Template:head">head</a>|en|article}}</code></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Special_treatment" data-mw-thread-id="h-Special_treatment"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Special_treatment"></span>Special treatment<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Special_treatment"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Special treatment"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>As the native language of this Wiktionary, English is given special treatment. Firstly, entries and policies are written in English, and where an entry contains multiple language sections, including an English section, the English section is listed first (behind only Translingual sections, because those are for words used in English <i>and</i> other languages). In addition, translations sections are <i>only</i> given on English pages, per <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:ELE#Translations" class="mw-redirect" title="Wiktionary:ELE">WT:ELE#Translations</a> — foreign terms are only translated into English, not into other foreign languages. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Other_English_aids" data-mw-thread-id="h-Other_English_aids"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Other_English_aids"></span>Other English aids<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Other_English_aids"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Other English aids"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:English_language" title="Category:English language">Category:English language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:English_templates" title="Category:English templates">Category:English templates</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Appendix:English_grammar" title="Appendix:English grammar">Appendix:English grammar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Frequency_lists#English" title="Wiktionary:Frequency lists">English frequency lists</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language" class="extiw" title="w:English language">w:English language</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:English" class="extiw" title="w:Portal:English">w:Portal:English</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="See_also" data-mw-thread-id="h-See_also"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-See_also"></span>See also<span data-mw-comment-end="h-See_also"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:About_Middle_English" title="Wiktionary:About Middle English">Wiktionary:About Middle English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:About_Old_English" title="Wiktionary:About Old English">Wiktionary:About Old English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:About_Scots" title="Wiktionary:About Scots">Wiktionary:About Scots</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><a href="#cite_ref-1"> ^ </a> <span class="reference-text"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Votes/2008-01/IPA_for_English_r" title="Wiktionary:Votes/2008-01/IPA for English r">2008-01/IPA for English r</a></span> </li> </ol></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1&useformat=desktop" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&oldid=80102292">https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&oldid=80102292</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wiktionary_think_tank_policies" title="Category:Wiktionary think tank policies">Wiktionary think tank policies</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pages_containing_style_information" title="Category:Pages containing style information">Pages containing style information</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wiktionary_language_considerations" title="Category:Wiktionary language considerations">Wiktionary language considerations</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:English_language" title="Category:English language">English language</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pages_using_invalid_parameters_when_calling_Template:policy-TT" title="Category:Pages using invalid parameters when calling Template:policy-TT">Pages using invalid parameters when calling Template:policy-TT</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wiktionary_pages_with_shortcuts" title="Category:Wiktionary pages with shortcuts">Wiktionary pages with shortcuts</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 3 June 2024, at 02:51.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Definitions and other text are available under the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a class="external text" href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a class="external text" href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy Policy.</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:About">About Wiktionary</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wiktionary.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:English_entry_guidelines&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" loading="lazy"></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-settings" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul></ul> </div><script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-5c59558b9d-c7z25","wgBackendResponseTime":632,"wgDiscussionToolsPageThreads":[{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Etymology","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Pronunciation","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Orthography","replies":[{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Regional_differences-Orthography","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Abbreviations,_acronyms_and_initialisms-Orthography","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Phrases-Orthography","replies":[]}]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Parts_of_Speech","replies":[{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Parts_of_Speech_headers_for_multi-word_terms-Parts_of_Speech","replies":[]}]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Criteria_for_inclusion","replies":[{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Modern_English_possessives-Criteria_for_inclusion","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Adjective_and_adverb_comparative_and_superlative_forms-Criteria_for_inclusion","replies":[]}]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Headword-line_templates","replies":[{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Nouns-Headword-line_templates","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Verbs-Headword-line_templates","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Adjectives-Headword-line_templates","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Adverbs-Headword-line_templates","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":3,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Other-Headword-line_templates","replies":[]}]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Special_treatment","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Other_English_aids","replies":[]},{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-See_also","replies":[]}],"wgPageParseReport":{"discussiontools":{"limitreport-timeusage":"0.035"},"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.346","walltime":"0.457","ppvisitednodes":{"value":1157,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":12614,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":1049,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":6,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":23,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":0,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":3830,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 338.436 1 -total"," 62.13% 210.271 1 Template:policy-TT"," 12.09% 40.933 18 Template:temp"," 10.07% 34.074 1 Template:policy-box"," 9.72% 32.882 13 Template:m"," 8.94% 30.244 3 Template:also"," 2.96% 10.007 1 Template:shortcut"," 0.86% 2.914 1 Template:maincat"," 0.79% 2.672 1 Template:policy-list"," 0.72% 2.422 8 Template:w"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.180","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":9809454,"limit":104857600}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.codfw.main-5c59558b9d-c7z25","timestamp":"20241129122057","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> </body> </html>