Phrase guide

Backus-Naur form

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /bækəs naʊə fɔːm/
  • General-American: /bækəs naʊɚ fɔɹm/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A formal notation for context-free grammars.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • 2004, Jason H. Moore, Lance W. Hahn, Systems Biology Modeling in Human Genetics Using Petri Nets and Grammatical Evolution, Kalyanmoy Deb, et. al. (editors), Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, GECCO 2004, Proceedings, Part 1, Springer, LNCS 3102, page 396, Here, a Backus-Naur Form (BNF) grammar is specified that allows a computer program or model to be constructed by a simple genetic algorithm operating on an array of bits.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From the names of computer science pioneers John Backus and Peter Naur. The notation was developed by Backus in 1959 (as Backus normal form) to describe computer languages, specifically ALGOL 58, and expanded and used by Naur in the ALGOL 60 report (the result of a January 1960 meeting). The name change to Backus-Naur form was at the suggestion of Donald Knuth.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Esperanto: formo de Backus-Naur — a formal notation for context-free grammars
  • Icelandic: Backus-Naur-ritháttur — a formal notation for context-free grammars
  • Icelandic: Backus-Naur ritháttur — a formal notation for context-free grammars