INFLECTED

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INFLECTED. A term in LINGUISTICS for a language in which a word takes various forms, most commonly by alteration of an ending, to show its grammatical role: Greek ho lúkos the wolf (nominative CASE and subject of the sentence), ton lúkon the wolf (accusative case and object of the sentence). Languages vary in their degree of inflection. The INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES were originally highly inflected, as shown by the forms of nouns, verbs, and adjectives in GREEK and LATIN. See LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY.