málefnaleg

Málefnaleg is the feminine singular form of the Icelandic adjective málefnalegur, meaning “grammatical” or “pertaining to grammar.” The masculine form is málefnalegur, the neuter form is málefnalegt. The term is used in linguistic descriptions to refer to features of grammar, such as grammatical gender or inflection.

In Icelandic, adjectives inflect for gender, number, and definiteness, so málefnaleg accompanies feminine singular nouns. The corresponding forms for masculine and neuter are málefnalegur and málefnalegt. For feminine plural nouns, the form would be málefnalegar.

Example: Málefnaleg beyging lýsir hvernig orð breytist eftir kyn nafnorða. This illustrates how grammatical inflection relates to the gender of nouns in Icelandic.

Etymology: The word is formed from mál- meaning “speech, language, matter” and the productive suffix -alegur, which forms adjectives indicating relation or pertaining to something. Thus málefnaleg describes something that is grammatical in nature.

See also: málfræði (grammar), kyn (gender), beyging (inflection), lýsing (descriptive term or description).