Diachronic
Adjective
- Concerned with the way in which something, especially language, has developed and evolved through time.
Example Sentences
“The diachronic evolution of social media slang shows how quickly internet language transforms.”
“Linguists trace the diachronic development of regional accents through generations of family recordings.”
“The diachronic study of fashion reveals how hemlines have reflected economic conditions throughout history.”
Word Origin
Greek, mid-19th century
Why this word?
This adjective concerns the way things, primarily language, change over time. From Greek, “dia” means “through” and “khronos” means “time.” Diachronic studies are contrasted with synchronic ones. While both are related to studies of linguistics, a diachronic examination looks at the development of language over time, and a synchronic study is concerned with something as it was during a fixed point in time.
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