citation form
Base word form
Citation form is the standard form of a word used when referring to it in isolation—the form you'd find as a dictionary headword.
For English verbs, the citation form is the infinitive: run, not runs or ran.
For nouns, it's typically the singular.
Languages with extensive inflection require agreed-upon citation forms so speakers can look up words consistently.
- headwordEntry term in dictionaries
- lemmaBase form, or helper theorem
- formShape or document
- standard formConventional way of expressing
- nominativeCase marking sentence subjects
infinitive · signifier · uninflected · descriptor · entry · look it up · lexeme · root · root word · basic form · declension · sound · stem · verb form · definition · dictionary · present tense · lookup
- shorteningabbreviation, abbreviating, abridgment, truncating, truncation
- philologyphilology, etymology, critical edition, collation, emendation
- Short Titlesshorthand
excitable, citation, recited, reciting, recitation, citing, excitation, citations, recitations