Collocation

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌkɒl.əˈkeɪ.ʃən/

Definitions

1. A grouping of terms that regularly appear together within specific contexts enhances clarity and meaning in both speech and writing
2. A phrase formed by words commonly used together in language to create a natural expression
3. A set of words that often occur jointly to convey a particular idea or context

Etymology: The most striking thing about "collocation" is that its ancestor is a place word. Latin "locus" meant "place," and "collocare" meant "to place together" or "to set in position," a verb used for arranging things physically. Adding the prefix "con-" ("together") and the noun-forming suffix "-tio" produced "collocatio," "a putting together," which English borrowed as a learned term. The first recorded English use dates to 1605. For nearly four centuries the word kept its everyday sense of putting things side by side. Its modern meaning, a habitual pairing of words such as "make a decision" or "heavy rain," is a specialised linguistic sense established in 1951, though it may be somewhat earlier. English speakers now use the word for something that describes how language itself is arranged, while its Latin ancestors were simply about setting objects in place.

Synonyms: arrangement, placement