“Paradigm: [From Greek paradeigma, a pattern, an example, a basis for comparison. Stress: ‘PA-ra-dime’]. In grammar, a set of all the (especially inflected) forms of a word (write, writes, wrote, writing, written), especially when used as a model for word forms in Latin and Greek (in which key words represent the patterns of numbered groups in nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) and to a lesser extent for such other languages as French and Spanish (principally for verbs). Their use is limited in English, because it is not a highly inflected language.”
Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
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