Semantics is the study of what words and sentences mean. A question of semantics.
Calling something semantics is usually a way of dismissing a distinction as trivial. The distinction is sometimes the whole argument, which is why linguists resent the use.
1nounsemanticsThe study of what words and sentences mean.
“The dispute turned out to be semantics and then turned out not to be.”
semantics is a study.
French semantique comes from Greek semantikos, significant, from sema, a sign.
Ancient Greek
σημαντικός
French
sémantique
English, today
semantics
From French sémantique, displacing earlier semasiology. From Ancient Greek σημαντικός. by surface analysis, semantic + -ics.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA