Understanding Semantics: Meaning, Usage, and Examples

Semantics is the study of meaning attributable to syntactically well-formed expressions. Syntax concerns the rules and principles of how to build semantically interpretable expressions from simple expressions, but in itself does not attribute meanings.

• Linguistic semantics: Deals with the encoding and decoding of semantic content of linguistic structures.
• Logical semantics: Studies the relationship between sign language and reality, including the conditions for a sign to be applied to an object, and rules that ensure an exact meaning.
• Semantics in cognitive science: Tries to explain why we communicate, and what is the psychological mechanism that is established between speaker and listener during this process.

Homonymy refers to the relationship of similarity in the way of writing or pronouncing words that have two different meanings or different grammatical values.

A euphemism is a politically acceptable or less offensive word or phrase used as a substitute for another considered vulgar, in bad taste, or taboo, which may offend or suggest something unpleasant or derogatory to the listener. It may also be the word or expression that replaces secret or sacred names to avoid disclosing them to the uninitiated.

The metaphor is the use of an expression with a different meaning or in a different context than usual. It establishes a total identity between two people, thoughts, or concepts, so as to refer to one element of the metaphor using the name of another.

Metonymy, also known as transnomination, is a semantic change in which a thing or idea is called by the name of something else associated with it (a semantic relationship between the two).

Connotative meanings are the personal and subjective meanings that words and expressions have, which are not found in the dictionary and therefore occasionally intervene and oppose the denotation or objective meaning. It is, therefore, the meaning in terms of speech, giving the word a subjective, personal, or intimate meaning.

Denotation is to express something objectively, that is, what is said is exactly consistent with its general dictionary meaning, without wanting to report or express something different from what is clearly and precisely stated.

Homophones are two or more words with similar but not identical pronunciation, different spelling, and different meaning. If the pronunciation is identical, it is called homophony. Examples: absorption (to absorb) and adsorption (to adsorb) / attitude (behavior) and aptitude (knowledge).

Popular etymology, also known as folk etymology or associative etymology, is a method or pseudoscience to explain the origins of words largely based on beliefs and traditions, using similarities with similar-sounding words (homophones) and so trying to find relations between their meanings. This creation of meaning is, in general, either by a reversal or by semantic or phonetic adaptation of a word.