Dictionary Entries Explained

 

A simple entry has three parts. First is the Lou headword. This begins each entry and is shown in bold type. Second is the grammatical part of speech which is shown in an abbreviated form in italic type. (See the List of Abbreviations where these are expanded). Third is the definition which shows the meaning of the Lou headword in English. In many of the definitions there are a number of equivalent English words that can be used to describe the Lou meaning. These are listed separated by commas ending with a semicolon. Sometimes, after the semicolon a further explaining phrase is given that serves to expand the definition.

Explain 2 In the first example given above, The Lou word, 'aek', only has one meaning. Sometimes however, words have multiple meanings. These multiple meanings are called senses and they are indicated in the dictionary by sense numbers. Each sense begins with a number followed by a dot. The various senses in an entry have distinct meanings, but they are all related in some way. That is why they are given numbers and listed under a single Lou headword.

LouEntry2 Occasionally you will notice that the headword is immediately followed by a small lowered number. The lowered number is used to distinguish what we call homonyms. Homonyms are words that have the same spelling but are unrelated in meaning. In the example, the Lou spelling, 'a' has three distinct meanings.

Words that describe things are called nouns and are indicated with n. as the part of speech. When you want to look up a Lou noun you should look for the singular form of the noun.

You may also notice words that appear in bold, like a Lou headword, yet they are indented from the margin. These words are sub entries. They are related to the Lou headword that precedes them and are derived from that headword. They are indented to show this relationship.

The Rei dialect, if known, will be listed immediately after the headword and is preceded with the label Rei.
LouEntry3