Hapax legomenon
WordNet
noun
(1) A word with a special meaning used for a special occasion
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From .
Noun
- A word occurring only once in a given corpus.
- 2000, Steven Pinker, Words and Rules ISBN 0-465-07269-0, page 172
- There is a lovely technical term for a word that appears once in a body of text: a hapax legomenon (plural: hapax legomena), Greek for “once said.” The term comes from philology, the study of old texts.
- 2000, Steven Pinker, Words and Rules ISBN 0-465-07269-0, page 172
Usage notes
The corpus in question is generally implied by context. Commonly it will be one of:
- A known corpus of a given language
- The works of a given author
- A particular work
- A book of the Bible