linguistics
noun
lin·guis·tics liŋ-ˈgwi-stiks 
plural in form but singular in construction
: the study of human speech including the units, nature, structure, and modification of language
Did you know?
Any analysis of language, including 8th-grade grammar, can be called linguistics. As recently as 200 years ago, ordinary grammar was about the only kind of linguistics there was. Today a linguist may be a person who learns foreign languages, but the term usually refers to people who devote themselves to analyzing the structure of language. Many linguists concentrate on the history of a language; others study the way children learn to speak; others analyze the sounds of a language—and still others just study English grammar, a subject so big that you could easily spend your entire life on it.
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Wissmath studied linguistics at U.C. Berkeley and attained a master's degree in photojournalism at Ohio University. 
Sfchroniclepr, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 July 2022 Still, the German teacher—Frau Doktor Eva Lange, Ph.D., whose doctorate was in linguistics—was contractually in place, and also the German department and its four-semester curriculum. Cynthia Ozick, The Atlantic, 3 Aug. 2022 The linguistics graduate from the University of California at Los Angeles received a scholarship from the Pat Tillman Foundation, which provides education grants to promising leaders with a military background, in 2009. Alex Horton, Washington Post, 17 June 2022 The linguistics graduate from the University of California at Los Angeles received a scholarship from the Pat Tillman Foundation, which provides education grants to promising leaders with a military background, in 2009. Amy Cheng And Alex Horton, BostonGlobe.com, 17 June 2022 Without a healthy dose of historical linguistics, Freeman said, English studies would fill up with distasteful tittle-tattle. Christopher Tayler, Harper’s Magazine , 17 Aug. 2022 Carlin’s look might have shifted dramatically, but the versatility and careful calibration of his delivery and his fascination with comedic linguistics was there from the beginning. Tyler Coates, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 June 2022 One of us had a PhD in computational linguistics and the other an MBA; one of us was starting a company and the other invested in startups. Kieran Snyder, Fortune, 15 June 2022 Simons, a lecturer in linguistics at San Diego State University, has incorporated composting in her lifestyle for some time. Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 July 2022 See More
Sfchroniclepr, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 July 2022 Still, the German teacher—Frau Doktor Eva Lange, Ph.D., whose doctorate was in linguistics—was contractually in place, and also the German department and its four-semester curriculum. Cynthia Ozick, The Atlantic, 3 Aug. 2022 The linguistics graduate from the University of California at Los Angeles received a scholarship from the Pat Tillman Foundation, which provides education grants to promising leaders with a military background, in 2009. Alex Horton, Washington Post, 17 June 2022 The linguistics graduate from the University of California at Los Angeles received a scholarship from the Pat Tillman Foundation, which provides education grants to promising leaders with a military background, in 2009. Amy Cheng And Alex Horton, BostonGlobe.com, 17 June 2022 Without a healthy dose of historical linguistics, Freeman said, English studies would fill up with distasteful tittle-tattle. Christopher Tayler, Harper’s Magazine , 17 Aug. 2022 Carlin’s look might have shifted dramatically, but the versatility and careful calibration of his delivery and his fascination with comedic linguistics was there from the beginning. Tyler Coates, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 June 2022 One of us had a PhD in computational linguistics and the other an MBA; one of us was starting a company and the other invested in startups. Kieran Snyder, Fortune, 15 June 2022 Simons, a lecturer in linguistics at San Diego State University, has incorporated composting in her lifestyle for some time. Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 July 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1829, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
linguistics
noun
lin·guis·tics liŋ-ˈgwis-tiks
: the study of human speech including the nature, structure, and development of language or of a language or group of languages