singulative
Of or pertaining to a grammatical form or construction that expresses the individuation of a single referent from a mass noun.
Adjective
- Of or pertaining to a grammatical form or construction that expresses the individuation of a single referent from a mass noun.
- English doesn't have a singulative number in general, but many uncountable nouns have usual singulative constructions.
Origin
From French singulatif, from Latin singillatim (“singly", "one by one”), from singulus (“single", "separate”), from Proto-Italic *sem-g-lo-, a diminutive form derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”).
Derived
Noun
- A singulative form or construction.
- The singulative of "cattle" is "a head of cattle".
- The singulative of "scissors" is "a pair of scissors".