Vernacular

How to spell vernacular

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce vernacular

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does vernacular mean?

1. nounThe everyday language or dialect spoken by ordinary people of a particular region or group, as opposed to formal or literary language.
2. adjectiveRelating to the native, everyday language or to the indigenous style of a particular place.

Vernacular in a sentence

• noun

  The novel captures the rough vernacular of dockworkers in the 1950s.

• adjective

  The museum showcases vernacular architecture built from local stone and timber.

• noun

  Legal documents are slowly being rewritten in plain vernacular so clients can understand them.

• adjective

  He prefers vernacular expressions to stiff academic phrasing in his lectures.

Where does vernacular come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin vernaculus, meaning 'domestic, native, or home-grown', which was formed from verna, the term for a slave born within the master's own household rather than purchased abroad. Because such a person was native to the home, vernaculus came to suggest anything indigenous or belonging to one's own place, including, by extension, the local speech of ordinary people. English adopted the word in the early 1600s, first as an adjective describing the native tongue used in daily life as opposed to formal or learned Latin, and soon afterwards as a noun for that everyday language itself. The sense later broadened beyond speech to cover native styles of building and design, as in vernacular architecture. A helpful spelling cue is that the ending is -ar rather than the more common -er, echoing the Latin adjective form, and the middle keeps a plain 'cu' rather than any fancier cluster.

How the word is built

• vernacul- (from Latin vernaculus: native, home-grown)
• -ar (adjective/noun suffix)