Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In linguistics, a collective noun is a word referring to a collection of things taken as a whole. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are not specific to one kind of thing. [1] For example, the collective noun "group" can be applied to people ("a group of people"), or dogs ("a group of dogs"), or objects ("a group of stones").
In the English language, many animals have different names depending on whether they are male, female, young, domesticated, or in groups. The best-known source of many English words used for collective groupings of animals is The Book of Saint Albans , an essay on hunting published in 1486 and attributed to Juliana Berners . [ 1 ]
Apache A Parisian gangster or thug (from the collective name Apache for several nations of Native Americans). [1]Bohemian A person with an unconventional artistic lifestyle (originally meaning an inhabitant of Bohemia; the secondary meaning may derive from an erroneous idea that the Romani people originate from Bohemia). [2]
Adjectives ending -ish can be used as collective demonyms (e.g. the English, the Cornish). So can those ending in -ch / -tch (e.g. the French , the Dutch ) provided they are pronounced with a 'ch' /tʃ/ sound (e.g. the adjective Czech does not qualify as its -ch is pronounced /k/ ).
The form of scientific names for organisms, called binomial nomenclature, is superficially similar to the noun-adjective form of vernacular names or common names which were used by non-modern cultures. A collective name such as owl was made more precise by the addition of an adjective such as screech. [8]
Trotters (originally a football term, it is now used to describe anyone from Bolton and surrounding area), Noblot (collective noun, anagram for Bolton) [13] Bo'ness Bo'neds (pejorative) Bootle Bootlickers, Bugs-in-Clogs [14] Bourne, Lincolnshire Bourne Deads (pejorative) Bournemouth
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_collective_nouns&oldid=126170805"
One collective noun for a group of ravens is "unkindness"; [4] in practice, most people use the more generic "flock". [5] Extant species. Corvus albicollis – White ...