Q0127

Ludwig Wittgenstein

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

The meaning of a word is its use in the language.
Thinker Ludwig Wittgenstein
School Analytic Philosophy
Source Philosophical Investigations §43
Theme Language
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Philosophical Investigations §43, within the tradition of Analytic Philosophy. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of language, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Ludwig Wittgenstein's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Ludwig Wittgenstein. (n.d.). The meaning of a word is its use in the language. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0127

MLA: Ludwig Wittgenstein. “The meaning of a word is its use….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0127.

Chicago: Ludwig Wittgenstein. “The meaning of a word is its use….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0127.

Same thinker

More from Ludwig Wittgenstein

  1. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
  2. My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally recognizes them as nonsensical…He must surmount these propositions; then he sees the world rightly.
  3. What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use.
  4. The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
  5. We feel that even if all possible scientific questions are answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all.

All quotations by Ludwig Wittgenstein

Same theme

More on language

  1. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
  2. What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use.
  3. The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
  4. He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.
  5. I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Browse the language theme