In
linguistics content words are words such as
nouns, most
verbs,
adjectives, and
adverbs that
refer to some object, action, or characteristic. Content words contrast with
function words, which function primarily to express the
grammatical relationships between other words in a sentence. Content words are most often
open class words, meaning that new content words can be added to the
lexicon easily. In relation to phonology, content words adhere to the minimal word constraint, while function words do not.