vocable

Borrowed from French vocable or Latin vocabulum, from Latin vocō (“I call”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvəʊkəbl̩/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvoʊkəbl̩/

• Audio (US)

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vocable (plural vocables)

1. (linguistics) A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than its meaning.
   • 1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament:

     Without words and almost with the seriousness of asylum nurses they at once set upon an unsavoury-looking matron who began to cry out Mediterranean vocables of distress.

   • 1925, John Buchan, "The House of the Four Winds":

     At first the man puzzled; then he smiled. He pronounced a string of uncouth vocables.

2. (music) A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in place of actual words in a song.
   • Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Native American Music;

     Many Native American songs employ vocables, syllables that do not have referential meaning. These may be used to frame words or may be inserted among them; in some cases, they constitute the entire song text.

vocable (not comparable)

1. (linguistics) Able to be uttered.

   a vocable marker, a vocable thing

• utterable, voiceable

• vocabulary

Borrowed from Latin vocabulum, from vocare (“call”).

• IPA^(key): /vɔkabl/

vocable m (plural vocables)

1. term

• vocabulaire

• “vocable” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).