Terminologi

Terminologi is the set of terms used within a specific domain or language, and the study of how those terms are created, defined, organized, and used. As a field, it encompasses both the vocabulary people rely on in practice and the methods for describing and standardizing that vocabulary. Terminology work aims to achieve precise, unambiguous communication, especially in technical, scientific, legal, and administrative contexts.

The scope of terminology includes term creation, definition drafting, selection of preferred terms, and management of synonyms, variants, and usage notes. It addresses issues such as polysemy (one term with multiple senses), homonymy, translation equivalence, and cross-domain mappings. Terminology work often distinguishes between the actual terms (the lexical items) and the rules governing their use (definitions, scope, and relationships).

Standardization and governance are central to terminology. Many domains rely on controlled vocabularies, glossaries, thesauri, or ontologies to ensure consistency across texts and systems. International and national bodies periodically publish standards for terminology formats, exchange protocols, and metadata. Notable examples include terminology-related work within ISO and national language institutes, which support interoperability and data exchange.

Practically, terminology management uses term banks or terminology management systems (TMS), together with workflows for term collection, definition development, review, approval, and publication. Multilingual and cross-linguistic considerations are common, requiring careful translation and alignment of terms across languages.

Applications of standardized terminology appear in medicine, law, information technology, engineering, and education, where clear, shareable terms improve search, data interoperability, regulatory compliance, and knowledge transfer. The field intersects with lexicography and linguistics but focuses on precise, domain-specific language rather than general vocabulary.