Vernacular

//vɚˈnækjəlɚ// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The language of a people or a national language.

    "The principal vernacular of the United States is English."

  2. 2
    the everyday speech of the people (as distinguished from literary language) wordnet
  3. 3
    Everyday speech or dialect, including colloquialisms, as opposed to standard, literary, liturgical, or scientific idiom.

    "Near-synonyms: basilect, demotic"

  4. 4
    a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves) wordnet
  5. 5
    Language unique to a particular group of people.

    "Near-synonyms: jargon, argot, dialect, slang"

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A language lacking standardization or a written form.
  2. 7
    Indigenous spoken language, as distinct from a literary or liturgical language such as Ecclesiastical Latin.

    "Vatican II, a church council in the 1960s, allowed the celebration of the mass in the vernacular."

  3. 8
    A style of architecture involving local building materials and styles; not imported.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to everyday language, as opposed to standard, literary, liturgical, or scientific idiom.

    "Near-synonyms: common, everyday, indigenous, ordinary, vulgar, colloquial, basilectal, demotic"

  2. 2
    Belonging to the country of one's birth; one's own by birth or by nature.

    "Near-synonyms: native, indigenous; endemic"

  3. 3
    Of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported.
  4. 4
    Connected to a collective memory; not imported.
  5. 5
    Not attempting to use the rules of a taxonomic code, especially, not using scientific Latin.

    "An English vernacular name for Rosa multiflora is multiflora rose."

Adjective
  1. 1
    being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
argotcantcommonjargonslangvulgar

Example

More examples

"The pitaya's common English name of "dragon fruit" reflects its vernacular name in many Asian languages."

Etymology

From Latin vernāculus (“domestic, indigenous, of or pertaining to home-born slaves”), from verna (“a native, a home-born slave (one born in his master's house)”).

Related phrases

vernacular architecturevernacular dancevernacular dialectvernacular languagevernacular namevernacular schoolvernacular variety

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.