nomenclature

Borrowed from Latin nōmenclātūra (“a calling by name, list of names”), from nōmen (“name”) + calāre (“call”). Doublet of nomenklatura.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nə(ʊ)ˈmɛŋ.klət͡ʃə/, /-ˈmɛn-/
  • (Received Pronunciation, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈnəʊmɪn.klət͡ʃə/, /ˈnəʊmɛn.klət͡ʃə/^[1]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnoʊmənˌkleɪt͡ʃɚ/, /ˌnoʊmənˈkleɪt͡ʃɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /nomən.kletʃə(r)/, /nɔmən-/

nomenclature (countable and uncountable, plural nomenclatures)

1. A set of rules used for forming the names or terms in a particular field of arts or sciences.
   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page ix:

     It is also pertinent to note that the current obvious decline in work on holarctic hepatics most surely reflects a current obsession with cataloging and with nomenclature of the organisms—as divorced from their study as living entities.

   • 2025 December 7 (last accessed), G. P. Moss, “Recommendations for the Naming of Elements of Atomic Numbers Greater than 100”, in IUPAC‎^[2], archived from the original on 8 July 2025:

     The existence of a systematic nomenclature for the unknown elements does not deny the right of 'discoverers' of new elements to suggest other names to the Commission after their discovery has been established beyond all doubt in the general scientific community.

2. A set of names or terms.
   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎^[3], page 4:

     Another major defect of the current literature dealing with the nomenclature of hybrid forms of English is the scant attention paid to the question of frequency.

3. (obsolete) A name.

• terminology

• glossary, taxonomy

• nomenclator, nomenclatory
• numericlature

• nomenclature on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “nomenclature”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “nomenclature”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Borrowed from Latin nomenclatūra (“a calling by name, list of names”).

• IPA^(key): /nɔ.mɑ̃.kla.tyʁ/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

nomenclature f (plural nomenclatures)

1. nomenclature

• “nomenclature”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

nomenclature f

1. plural of nomenclatura