Is there a technical term for the degeneration or evolution of words?
--------------------------------------------------
Rise to the top 3% as a developer or hire one of them at Toptal: https://topt.al/25cXVn
--------------------------------------------------
Music by Eric Matyas
https://www.soundimage.org
Track title: Drifting Through My Dreams
--
Chapters
00:00 Is There A Technical Term For The Degeneration Or Evolution Of Words?
00:16 Accepted Answer Score 2
00:46 Thank you
--
Full question
https://english.stackexchange.com/questi...
--
Content licensed under CC BY-SA
https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/lice...
--
Tags
#singlewordrequests #terminology #languageevolution #semanticshift
#avk47
Rise to the top 3% as a developer or hire one of them at Toptal: https://topt.al/25cXVn
--------------------------------------------------
Music by Eric Matyas
https://www.soundimage.org
Track title: Drifting Through My Dreams
--
Chapters
00:00 Is There A Technical Term For The Degeneration Or Evolution Of Words?
00:16 Accepted Answer Score 2
00:46 Thank you
--
Full question
https://english.stackexchange.com/questi...
--
Content licensed under CC BY-SA
https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/lice...
--
Tags
#singlewordrequests #terminology #languageevolution #semanticshift
#avk47
ACCEPTED ANSWER
Score 2
It's known as semantic change, semantic shift, or semantic progression.
Coincidentally, gay is mentioned on that Wikipedia article:
Gay - Originally meant feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637. The term later began to be used in reference to homosexuality, in particular, from the early 20th century, a usage that may have dated prior to the 19th century.