Univocal

Univocal is an adjective used to describe terms or predicates that have a single, identical meaning across different contexts. In philosophy of language and logic, a univocal term denotes the same concept or reference in all its occurrences. The word comes from Latin univocus, formed from unus (one) and vox (voice or sound).

In contrast, equivocal terms have multiple, unrelated meanings, so context is needed to disambiguate. Analogical use sits between these: a term is applied to different things in related, but not identical, ways. This triad—univocal, equivocal, and analogical predication—is central to discussions of how language maps to reality. A simple example of univocal predication is the statement “The circle is round” and “The ball is round.” The predicate “is round” uses the same sense for both.

Historical discussions of univocity arise chiefly in medieval philosophy and theology. Some thinkers favored univocal terms to preserve precision across domains, while others argued that divine predicates must be used analogically rather than univocally to avoid equating God with created beings. The Thomistic tradition, for example, emphasizes analogy of being (analogia entis) rather than strict univocity when speaking about God and creatures.

In contemporary usage, univocal is also used in linguistics and semantics to describe terms that retain a single sense across contexts, as opposed to polysemous terms whose meanings shift. However, many modern analyses recognize that natural language often exhibits nuance, context dependence, and layered meanings, making strict univocity a simplifying ideal rather than a universal description.