Dictionary

disharmonic en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /dɪshɑːˈmɒnɪk/ (UK)

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin dis- Old French des-bor. Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- English harmonic English disharmonic From dis- + harmonic.

Meanings

1. Not harmonic.
2. (qualifier:Australianist linguistics) Of or relating to a generation that is an odd number of generations distant from a particular person.
   • 1995, Alan Dench, Martuthunira: A Language of the Pilbara Region of Western Australia […] there is also a special set of (non-singular first person) pronoun forms for use with disharmonic kin: those in the opposite generation set. […] The two disharmonic pronouns are used as polite forms when the addressee and speaker are in different alternate generation sets.
   • 1979, Barry J. Blake & R. M. W. Dixon, The Handbook of Australian Languages A person is 'harmonic' with respect to his own generation and all even-numbered generations counting away from his own, and 'disharmonic' with respect to odd-numbered generations. Thus a man is disharmonic with respect to his father and his son but harmonic with respect to his grandfather and his grandson.

Forms