Designations

Designations UML

A designation is a name under which a managed term is known. Designations follow an inheritance hierarchy based on ISO 10241-1 and the Glossarist concept model. See the Designation entity definition for the authoritative field list.

Designations form a MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) hierarchy:

Type	Extends	Description
`expression`	Base	A word or phrase used as a designation
`abbreviation`	Expression	A shortened form (acronym, initialism, or truncation)
`symbol`	Base	A non-letter symbol representing a concept
`letter_symbol`	Symbol	A single letter used as a symbol
`graphical_symbol`	Symbol	An iconic or graphical symbol
`prefix`	Base	A prefix that attaches before a designation
`suffix`	Base	A suffix that attaches after a designation

Base properties (common to all types)

Every designation type inherits these fields from the Designation base:

Field	Type	Card.	Standard	Description
`designation`	string	1..1	—	The term text or symbol
`normative_status`	normativeStatus	0..1	—	`preferred`, `admitted`, `deprecated`, or `superseded`
`term_type`	termType	0..1	ISO 12620	Classification of the designation’s term type
`related`	DesignationRelationship[]	0..*	ISO 10241-1	Designation-level relationships (e.g. abbreviated_form_for)
`sources`	ConceptSource[]	0..*	ISO 10241-1 §6.8	Bibliographic sources
`pronunciation`	Pronunciation[]	0..*	—	Pronunciation entries
`language`	string	0..1	ISO 639	Language of this designation
`script`	string	0..1	ISO 15924	Script of the designation text (e.g. `Latn`, `Cyrl`)
`system`	string	0..1	ISO 24229	Conversion system code
`international`	boolean	0..1	—	Whether used internationally
`absent`	boolean	0..1	—	Whether intentionally absent in this language
`register`	string	0..1	—	Register information

Expression-specific fields

Expression designations add:

Field	Type	Card.	Description
`grammar_info`	GrammarInfo[]	0..*	Grammatical information

Abbreviation-specific fields

Abbreviation designations (extends Expression) add:

Field	Type	Card.	Description
`is_acronym`	boolean	0..1	Whether this is an acronym
`is_initialism`	boolean	0..1	Whether this is an initialism
`is_truncation`	boolean	0..1	Whether this is a truncation

Symbol-specific fields

Symbol designations add:

Field	Type	Card.	Description
`text`	string	0..1	Text representation of the symbol

Graphical symbols add:

Field	Type	Card.	Description
`image`	anyURI	0..1	Image URI for the graphical symbol

Pronunciation

Each Pronunciation entry has:

Field	Type	Card.	Standard	Description
`content`	string	1..1	—	The pronunciation text
`language`	string	0..1	ISO 639	Language/dialect being pronounced (3-letter code)
`script`	string	0..1	ISO 15924	Script of the pronunciation text (4-letter code)
`country`	string	0..1	ISO 3166-1	Country variant (2-letter code)
`system`	string	0..1	ISO 24229	Conversion system code (e.g. `IPA`, `Var:jpn-Hrkt:Latn:Hepburn-1886`)

Grammar Information

Each GrammarInfo entry has:

Field	Type	Card.	Description
`gender`	gender	0..*	Grammatical gender
`number`	number	0..*	Grammatical number
`part_of_speech`	string	0..1	Part of speech

Designation Relationships

Designation-level relationships link designations of the same concept to each other (e.g. an abbreviation to its full form). They are distinct from concept-level RelatedConcept links, which connect entire concepts by identifier.

In the v3.1 ontology, designation relationships are modeled as a first-class gloss:DesignationRelationship class (linked from gloss:Designation via gloss:hasDesignationRelationship). This MECE separation from concept-level gloss:hasRelatedConcept keeps designation-level semantics — abbreviated_form_for, short_form_for, etc. — cleanly distinct from concept-level relationships like broader/narrower/equivalent.

Field	Type	Card.	Description
`type`	string (enum)	1..1	`abbreviated_form_for` or `short_form_for`
`content`	string	0..1	Text describing the relationship
`target`	string	0..1	The target designation text

Example

terms:
  - type: expression
    designation: Light Emitting Diode
    normative_status: preferred
  - type: abbreviation
    designation: LED
    normative_status: admitted
    acronym: true
    related:
      - type: abbreviated_form_for
        target: Light Emitting Diode

See the YAML Schema Reference for the complete JSON Schema definitions, the Entity Field Reference for all entity types, and the Standards compliance reference for ISO standard mappings.