paradigm

English

WOTD – 13 June 2006

Alternative forms

• paradigma (archaic)

Etymology

Established 1475-85 from Late Latin paradīgma, from Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (parádeigma, “pattern”), from παραδείκνυμι (paradeíknumi, “I show [beside] or compare”) + -μα (-ma, suffix forming nouns concerning the results of actions).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/
• (US) enPR: ˈpärədīm, IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/, /ˈpɛɹ.ə.daɪm/, /ˈpeɪ.ɹə.daɪm/

  Audio (California, Mary–marry–merry merger):

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.ə.dɑɪm/

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

Noun

paradigm (plural paradigms or paradigmata)

1. A pattern, a way of doing something, especially a pattern of thought, a system of beliefs, a conceptual framework.

   Near-synonyms: style, model, worldview

   Thomas Kuhn's landmark “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” got people talking about paradigm shifts, to the point the word itself now suggests an incomplete or biased perspective.

2. An example serving as the model for such a pattern.

   Near-synonyms: template, exemplar, archetype, poster child; see also Thesaurus:exemplar, Thesaurus:model

   • 2000, Estate of William F. Jenkins v. Paramount Pictures Corp.:

     According to the Fourth Circuit, “Coca-Cola” is “the paradigm of a descriptive mark that has acquired secondary meaning”.

   • 2003, Nicholas Asher, Alex Lascarides, Logics of Conversation, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 46:

     DRT is a paradigm example of a dynamic semantic theory, […]

3. (linguistics) A set of all forms which contain a common element, especially the set of all inflectional forms of a word or a particular grammatical category.

   The paradigm of "to sing" is "sing, sang, sung". The verb "to ring" follows the same paradigm.

Derived terms

• morphoparadigm
• multi-paradigm
• paradigmatic
• paradigmaticism
• paradigm leveling
• paradigm shift
• social conflict paradigm

 

Translations

way of viewing reality

• Afrikaans: paradigma
• Arabic: نَمَط m (namaṭ)
• Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʻuycʻ)
• Catalan: paradigma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 範式 / 范式 (zh) (fànshì)

• Czech: paradigma (cs) n, pojetí (cs) n
• Danish: paradigme (da) n
• Dutch: paradigma (nl) n, denkkader (nl) n
• Finnish: paradigma (fi), maailmankatsomus (fi)
• French: paradigme (fr) m
• German: Paradigma (de) n, Weltanschauung (de) f, Bezugssystem (de) n, Sicht der Dinge f, Denkrahmen m
• Iban: paradigma
• Icelandic: hugarfar (is) n
• Indonesian: paradigma (id)
• Italian: paradigma (it) m
• Kazakh: парадигма (paradigma)
• Kyrgyz: парадигма (paradigma)
• Macedonian: паради́гма f (paradígma)
• Malay: paradigma
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: paradigme (no) n, paradigma n

  Nynorsk: paradigme n, paradigma n

• Polish: paradygmat (pl) m
• Portuguese: paradigma (pt) m
• Russian: паради́гма (ru) f (paradígma)
• Slovak: paradigma f
• Spanish: paradigma (es) m
• Swedish: paradigm (sv) n
• Turkish: paradigma (tr)

example serving as a model or pattern

• Afrikaans: paradigma
• Arabic: نُمُوذَج m (numūḏaj), مِثَال m (miṯāl), آيَة (ar) f (ʔāya)
• Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʻuycʻ)
• Bulgarian: образец (bg) m (obrazec), пример (bg) m (primer)
• Catalan: paradigma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 範例 / 范例 (zh) (fànlì), 模範 / 模范 (zh) (mófàn), 典範 / 典范 (zh) (diǎnfàn)

• Czech: paradigma (cs) n
• Dutch: paradigma (nl) n
• Finnish: paradigma (fi), ajatusmalli
• French: paradigme (fr) m
• German: Beispiel (de) n, Musterbeispiel (de) n
• Hebrew: פָּרָדִיגְמָה (he) f (paradigma)
• Iban: paradigma
• Icelandic: fyrirmynd (is) f, viðmið n
• Indonesian: paradigma (id)
• Italian: paradigma (it) m
• Japanese: 模範 (ja) (もはん, mohan)
• Macedonian: паради́гма f (paradígma)
• Malay: paradigma
• Polish: paradygmat (pl) m
• Portuguese: paradigma (pt) m
• Romanian: paradigmă (ro) f
• Russian: паради́гма (ru) f (paradígma), образе́ц (ru) m (obrazéc), приме́р (ru) m (primér)
• Spanish: paradigma (es) m
• Turkish: paradigma (tr)

linguistics: all forms which contain a common element

• Afrikaans: paradigma
• Arabic: قِيَاس (عِلْمُ الصَّرْف) m
• Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʻuycʻ)
• Bulgarian: парадигма (bg) f (paradigma)
• Catalan: paradigma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詞形變化表 / 词形变化表 (cíxíng biànhuàbiǎo)

• Czech: vzor (cs) m
• Danish: paradigme (da) n
• Dutch: paradigma (nl) n
• Faroese: bendingarmynstur n
• Finnish: paradigma (fi), taivutuskaava (fi), muotosarja (fi)
• French: paradigme (fr) m
• Georgian: პარადიგმა (ka) (ṗaradigma)
• German: Paradigma (de) n, Flexionsmuster (de) n, Flexionsschema n
• Greek: παράδειγμα (el) n (parádeigma)

  Ancient: παράδειγμα n (parádeigma)

• Iban: paradigma
• Icelandic: beygingardæmi (is) n
• Indonesian: paradigma (id)
• Italian: paradigma (it)
• Japanese: 語形変化表 (ごけいへんかひょう, gokei henkahyō)
• Malay: paradigma
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: paradigme (no) n, paradigma n

  Nynorsk: paradigme n, paradigma n

• Polish: paradygmat (pl) m
• Portuguese: paradigma (pt) m
• Russian: паради́гма (ru) f (paradígma)
• Slovak: vzor m
• Spanish: paradigma (es) m
• Turkish: paradigma (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 패러다임 (paereodaim)

References

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Paradigm”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VII (O–P), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 449, column 1.
• “paradigm”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “paradigm”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "paradigm" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.