Termbanken

Termbanken (terminology bank) is a structured repository of domain-specific vocabulary that stores terms, their linguistic forms, definitions, and metadata to support consistent terminology use in texts, software, and data.

A typical entry includes: preferred term, variants and synonyms, language, part of speech, definition, usage notes, domain or field, status, provenance, and cross-references to related concepts or broader/narrower terms. Many termbanks also map terms to concepts in a taxonomy or ontology and provide multilingual correspondences.

Organization and workflow: terms are grouped in concept schemes or subject areas and assigned unique identifiers with version histories. Editorial workflows, sourcing, and quality indicators help govern updates and accuracy.

Applications: used by editors, translators, researchers, and data scientists to ensure consistency across documents and datasets, annotate corpora, improve search and discovery, and support NLP and data interoperability.

Standards and formats: termbanks often support interoperability through standardized exchange formats and export options (for example TBX, JSON, or XML) and can be integrated with content management systems and knowledge graphs.

Scope and access: termbanks exist across libraries, government, industry, and academia, and may be open to the public or restricted to an organization or project.