Vocable

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈvəʊkÉ™blÌ©/
• US IPA: /ˈvoÊŠkÉ™blÌ©/

Origin

From French vocable or Latin vocabulum, from Latin vocō ("I call").

Full definition of vocable

Noun

1. (linguistics) A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than its meaning.
• 1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament:Without words and almost with the seriousness of asylum nurses they at once set upon an unsavoury-looking matron who began to cry out Mediterranean vocables of distress.
• 1925, John Buchan, "The House of the Four Winds":At first the man puzzled; then he smiled. He pronounced a string of uncouth vocables.
2. (music) A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in place of actual words in a song.
• Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Native American Music;Many Native American songs employ vocables, syllables that do not have referential meaning. These may be used to frame words or may be inserted among them; in some cases, they constitute the entire song text.

Adjective

1. (linguistics) Able to be uttered.a vocable marker, a vocable thing

Synonyms

• utterable, voiceable