Standard Lemma guide

deixis

noun · 2 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.

  • /ˈdaɪksɪs/
  • /ˈdeɪksɪs/
  • uncommon: /deɪˈɪksɪs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The use of a word, such as a particle or pronoun, to refer to something that must be identified from the immediate physical, temporal, or grammatical context; a word used in such a way.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, pragmatics, sciences

Examples

  • Deixis allows for economy of speech but may introduce ambiguity in recorded speech when referring to something physical.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: indexicality

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: exophora

2

noun

Meaning 2

the function of pointing or specifying from the perspective of a participant in an act of speech or writing; aspects of a communication whose interpretation depends on knowledge of the context in which the communication occurs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: semantics

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δεῖξις (deîxis, “pointing, indicating, reference”), from δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “I show”).

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ցուցայնություն (cʻucʻaynutʻyun) — reference relying on context
  • Catalan: dixi — reference relying on context
  • Chinese Mandarin: 直指 — reference relying on context
  • Czech: deixe — reference relying on context
  • Esperanto: deikto — reference relying on context
  • Estonian: deiksis — reference relying on context
  • Finnish: deiksis — reference relying on context
  • French: deixis — reference relying on context
  • French: déixis — reference relying on context
  • Galician: deíxe — reference relying on context
  • German: Deixis — reference relying on context
  • Italian: deissi — reference relying on context
  • Japanese: 直示 (chokuji) — reference relying on context
  • Kazakh: дейксис (deiksis) — reference relying on context
  • Korean: 직시 (jiksi) — reference relying on context
  • Mongolian: заах үүрэг (zaax üüreg) — reference relying on context
  • Mongolian: онцлох үүрэг (onclox üüreg) — reference relying on context
  • Persian: اشاره — reference relying on context
  • Polish: deixis — reference relying on context
  • Portuguese: dêixis — reference relying on context
  • Portuguese: díxis — reference relying on context
  • Russian: де́йксис (déjksis) — reference relying on context
  • Spanish: deixis — reference relying on context
  • Spanish: deíxis — reference relying on context
  • Vietnamese: trực chỉ — reference relying on context