grammar
grammar
(grămʹər) noun
Abbr. gram.
1.
a. The study of how words and their component parts combine to form sentences. b. The study of structural relationships in language or in a language, sometimes including pronunciation, meaning, and linguistic history.
2. a. The system of inflections, syntax, and word formation of a language. b. The system of rules implicit in a language, viewed as a mechanism for generating all sentences possible in that language.
3. a. A normative or prescriptive set of rules setting forth the current standard of usage for pedagogical or reference purposes. b. Writing or speech judged with regard to such a set of rules.
4. A book containing the morphologic, syntactic, and semantic rules for a specific language.
5. a. The basic principles of an area of knowledge: the grammar of music. b. A book dealing with such principles.
[Middle English gramere, from Old French gramaire, alteration of Latin grammatica, from Greek grammatikē from feminine of grammatikos, of letters, from gramma, grammat-, letter.]