Question
Updated on
22 Feb 2016
- Japanese
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English (US)
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English (UK)
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French (France)
Question about English (UK)
What is the difference between lyric and lyrics ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
What is the difference between lyric and lyrics ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
Which do you prefer for popular music songs?
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- English (UK)
"Lyric" is singular and "lyrics" is plural.
"I like the lyrics of this song."
"What does this lyric mean?"
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- English (UK)
Aye. "Lyrics" is the words for an entire song. "Lyric" is a single line, phrase or word.
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- Japanese
Thanks @bobe ăă, @belthazar ăă!
I thought they have some completely different meanings.
But now I see. ăăăăšăŒ(^^)
I thought they have some completely different meanings.
But now I see. ăăăăšăŒ(^^)
- English (UK)
- English (US)
They have other meanings.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/en...
Generally speaking, these days you will hear the noun "lyrics" meaning the words of a song but you could also use "lyric".
The other meanings of the noun and adjective "lyric" are less usual but are still current.
I haven't heard of "lyric" being singular or meaning a single line, phrase or word.
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- Japanese
Thank you for the information. @Igirisujin ăă!
I was surprised it has many meanings. The adjective "lyric" is very interesting to me.
So, the noun "lyrics" and "lyric" both can be used for the (whole) words of a song, right?
Is that okay if I say "What does this lyric mean in this lyrics?" ? I mean, "lyric" as a single line, phrase or word.
I was surprised it has many meanings. The adjective "lyric" is very interesting to me.
So, the noun "lyrics" and "lyric" both can be used for the (whole) words of a song, right?
Is that okay if I say "What does this lyric mean in this lyrics?" ? I mean, "lyric" as a single line, phrase or word.
- English (UK)
- English (US)
>>So, the noun "lyrics" and "lyric" both can be used for the (whole) words of a song, right?<<
Yes, that's right. We usually say "lyrics" nowadays. Either can also be used to mean some of the lyrics.
>>Is it okay if I say "What does this lyric mean in these lyrics?" ? I mean, "lyric" as a single line, phrase or word.<<
No, we don't say that.
However, @bobe is right that "lyric" is singular, but it means the lyric as one thing.
My sentence "I haven't heard of lyric being singular..." should have been worded better. It is singular of course but doesn't specifically mean one part.
I'm sorry if I confused you with that!
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- English (UK)
- English (US)
Please note, the email version of that reply may be different. I have edited it.
Please ask further if it's not yet clear.
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- English (UK)
To clarify, "lyric" as a singular refers to a specific phrase within the lyrics.
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- English (UK)
- English (US)
Lyric is a confusing and slightly unusual word. The singular and plural mean the same - words of a song - apart from multiple songs which would always be plural.
So âlyricâ and âlyricsâ can either mean all the words or some, except where âlyricsâ refers to several songs.
These dictionaries donât entirely agree with each other.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/en...
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lyric
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/eng...
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/engl...
Oxford and Webster define it as âwords of a song, usually pluralâ
Collins and Cambridge only mention the plural. Certainly the plural is more commonly used.
However, I canât find any definition which says âlyricâ is a specific phrase within the lyrics, or a single line, phrase or word.
Hereâs an example from a music publisher:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lyric-Book-Complete...
âLyricâ clearly doesnât mean parts and phrases here. It is a book of 1,000 complete lyrics.
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- Japanese
Thanks, @bobeăă , @Igirisujinăă !
Now I realized why I came up with this question, haha.
I will accept "the words we use have lives of their own."(this was in my English-Japanese dictionary).
But I like Oxford and Webster definition.
Some of the definition in the dictionaries and the book reviews on Amazon are a little hard to understand for me, but I think I managed pretty well. It was very interesting because I like music.
Thank you for the information, @Igirisujin ăă!
Now I realized why I came up with this question, haha.
I will accept "the words we use have lives of their own."(this was in my English-Japanese dictionary).
But I like Oxford and Webster definition.
Some of the definition in the dictionaries and the book reviews on Amazon are a little hard to understand for me, but I think I managed pretty well. It was very interesting because I like music.
Thank you for the information, @Igirisujin ăă!
- English (UK)
- English (US)
Yes indeed @Mimi01ăă You found a tricky word there! Answering questions here has been very interesting for me. Although I understand we don't all speak exactly the same the language. Your dictionary was right about that. =)
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- Japanese
Yes indeed =) Thanks again! ăŸăăăăăăéĄăăăŸă(^^)
- Russian
@bobe when artists (music) (not all of them) publish a video of their song on YouTube, they write "official LYRIC video". (US English).
They write this in the title of the video, where the entire lyrics of their song are played (visualizer).
Why "LYRIC"? and not "LYRICS"?
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