enspecifieke

Enspecifice is a neologism used in some Dutch-language discussions of semantics, ontology design, and privacy-conscious data modelling. It describes a way of labeling or describing an entity that combines a general framing with a restricted, non-specific particularisation. In practice, an enspecieke description refers to a category that is precise enough to be meaningful but deliberately leaves one or more attributes unspecified, allowing flexible use across related instances without disclosing exact identity.

Applications of enspecieke concepts appear in ontology design and data sharing. In ontologies, enspecieke labels enable queries that match any member of a class without requiring full specification of each instance. In privacy-preserving contexts, they support intermediate representations that convey useful information (such as type or region) while withholding sensitive details (such as a specific identifier or exact attributes).

Examples help illustrate the idea. A description like “an enspecieke customer in the region” identifies a customer category and geographic context without naming a person. An “enspecieke device model within the family X” points to a class of devices without exposing a unique serial number or exact configuration.

Relation to other terms is important: enspecifice lies between generalization and specification. It is not widely standardized and can vary in definition between communities, sometimes overlapping with unspecific or partially specified data.

Critically, the term remains niche and its adoption is uneven. As a concept, it aims to balance informativeness with privacy, flexibility with precision.

See also: generalization, specification, ontology, anonymization.