non-wordn.
/ˈnɒnˌwəːd/, U.S. /ˈnɑnˈwərd/ A thing that is not a word; spec. an unrecorded or hitherto unused word; a word which has (or is regarded as having) no accepted meaning.
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the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > word > [noun] > other specific types of word
hard word1533
household word1574
magic word1581
grandam words1598
signal word1645
book worda1670
wordie1718
my whole1777
foundling1827–38
keyword1827
Mesopotamia1827
thought-word1844
word-symbol1852
nursery word1853
pivot word1865
rattler1865
object word1876
pillow word1877
nonce-word1884
non-word1893
fossil1901
blessed word1910
bogy-word1919
catch-all1922
pseudo-word1929
false friend1931
plus word1939
descriptor1946
meta-word1952
discourse marker1967
shrub2008
1893 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 187/1 Thus the sages approach Brahman by means of his manifestation, his created works; ‘by the word is the non-word revealed’.
1956 Amer. Lit. 28 89 A group of nonwords and senseless repetitions for which Melville should not be held responsible.
1970 Gainesville (Florida) Sun 8 Jan. The School Board's petition to the Supreme Court contained an error, the non-word ‘predominately’.
1992 Eng. Today Oct. 41/1 My high-school English teacher was fond of slashing users of the non-word ‘irregardless’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1893