siglum
English
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siglum
- /ˈsɪɡləm/ US, UK
- /ˈsɪɡlə/ US, UK
Where it comes from
Learned borrowing from Late Latin siglum (“abbreviation”), possibly a contracted form of:
* sigillum (“figurine, statuette; seal”), from signum (“figure, statue; seal, signet; mark, sign”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut, sever; to cut off”) or *sekʷ- (“to follow”)) + -ulum (diminutive suffix); or
* singulum, a singular form of singulus (“apiece; every; single”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; together”).
The plural form sigla is a learned borrowing from Late Latin sigla.
noun sigla
- A letter or other symbol that stands for a name or word; specifically, one used in a modern literary work to refer to an early version of a text.
- A thing which represents something else; a sign, a symbol. [H]e emerged onto a garden terrace where on the soft red sand one could make out the sigla of a summer day: the imprints of a dog's paws, the beaded tracks of a wagtail, the Dunlop stripe left by Tanya's bicycle, […]
Translations
Talk about this word "siglum." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/siglum. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. siglum. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/siglum "siglum." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/siglum.Cite this
@misc{siglum_2026,
title = {siglum},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/siglum},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
