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, “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/
(Mary–marry–merry merger)
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

paradigm (plural paradigms or paradigmata)

A pattern, a way of doing something, especially (now often derogatory) a pattern of thought, a system of beliefs, a conceptual framework.
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.
An example serving as the model for such a pattern.
Synonyms: template, exemplar, posterboy
- 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, […]
(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.

Synonyms

(exemplar): Thesaurus:exemplar, Thesaurus:model

Derived terms

morphoparadigm
paradigmatic
paradigmaticism
paradigm shift

Translations

way of viewing reality

Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʿuycʿ)
Catalan: paradigma (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 模式 (zh) (móshì)
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
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

Arabic: نُموذج‎, مِثَال‎ (miṯāl), آيَة‎ (ar) (ʾāya)
Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʿuycʿ)
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),典范 (zh)
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

Arabic: قياس (عِلم الصرْف)‎
Armenian: հարացույց (hy) (haracʿuycʿ)
Bulgarian: парадигма (bg) f (paradigma)
Catalan: paradigma (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 词形变化表
Czech: vzor (cs) m
Danish: paradigme (da) n
Dutch: paradigma (nl) n
Finnish: paradigma (fi), taivutuskaava (fi), muotosarja (fi)
French: paradigme (fr) m
Georgian: პარადიგმა (ka) (ṗaradigma)
German: Paradigma (de) n
Greek: παράδειγμα (el) n (parádeigma)
Ancient: παράδειγμα n (parádeigma)
Iban: paradigma
Icelandic: beygingardæmi (is) n
Indonesian: paradigma (id)
Italian: paradigma (it)
Japanese: 変化表 (へんかひょう, 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

“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.