Agglutinate Language
Preserved but no longer current.
A language the chief characteristic of which is that its words are simple or root words combined into com- pounds, without loss of original meaning. Thus, inkstand and comeatable are agglutinate words. Agglutination is a feature of most Turanian languages: it implies that the root words are glued together to form other words, and may be "unglued" so as to leave the roots distinct.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Agglutinate Language” mean?
A language the chief characteristic of which is that its words are simple or root words combined into com- pounds, without loss of original meaning. Thus, inkstand and comeatable are agglutinate words. Agglutination is a feature of most Turanian languages: it implies that the root words are glued together to form other words, and may be "unglued" so as to leave the roots distinct.
Is “Agglutinate Language” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.