Terminology

Terminology is the study and practice concerned with the terms used in a particular field or domain. It encompasses the creation, structure, and use of terms, their definitions, and the relationships among them. In contrast to general language, terminology aims for precise, unambiguous meanings within a specialized context. The discipline is sometimes called terminography when focused on compiling term collections, or terminology management when covering ongoing governance.

A terminology resource may take the form of glossaries, nomenclatures, controlled vocabularies, thesauri, or terminological databases. Resources can be monolingual or multilingual, and may include linguistic data (lemmas, part of speech) as well as domain-specific metadata (scope notes, usage restrictions). In information systems, terminology is often linked to ontologies, taxonomies, and data models to support retrieval and interoperability.

Term development typically involves term extraction from expert sources or corpora, definition drafting, and context notes. Terms are reviewed, approved, and prioritized by subject-matter committees, with ongoing maintenance to reflect changes in the field. Normalization may include standard spellings, preferred labels, and relationships such as broader/narrower terms or equivalence.

Standards and best practices guide terminology work. International standards promote consistency across languages and platforms, aiding translation, information retrieval, data exchange, and knowledge management. Terminology work intersects with indexing, cataloging, and semantic technologies, and faces challenges like polysemy, cross-domain mapping, and updates as concepts evolve.