Inflector: meaning, definitions and examples
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inflector
[ ɪnˈflɛktər ]
software development
A tool or library used to perform inflection tasks, such as singularizing or pluralizing words, in software development. Inflectors are commonly used in web frameworks to handle dynamic content generation.
Synonyms
linguistic processor, word processor
Examples of usage
- Many modern web frameworks come with built-in inflectors for easy manipulation of strings.
- The inflector was used to automatically pluralize the word 'child' to 'children' in the application.
linguistics
In linguistics, an inflector is a morpheme added to a root or stem to indicate grammatical information, such as tense, number, or case. Inflectors play a crucial role in creating different forms of words in a language.
Synonyms
grammatical marker, morpheme
Examples of usage
- The inflector '-s' in English is used to indicate plural nouns.
- In Latin, inflectors are added to verbs to show tense and person.
Word origin
The term 'inflector' originated from the word 'inflect' which comes from the Latin word 'inflectere' meaning 'to bend'. In software development, the concept of inflection was adapted to create tools and libraries for manipulating words and strings dynamically. In linguistics, inflectors have been a fundamental part of morphological analysis and word formation in languages throughout history.
See also: inflect, inflection.