hapax legomenon

1. 1.

   a word with a special meaning used for a special occasion

   Synonymsnonce word

   Broaderword

Questions about hapax legomenon

What does hapax legomenon mean?

hapax legomenon means "a word with a special meaning used for a special occasion".

What is another word for hapax legomenon?

Close synonyms include nonce word. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is hapax legomenon a common word?

hapax legomenon is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.