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Motivation: I'm doing a text-mining project and I'd like to map all forms of an adjective to their "base-form".

Example:

bigger    -> big
biggest   -> big
stronger  -> strong
strongest -> strong

The words on the left are the comparitive or superlative forms of the word on the right.

Question: What is the word on the right called?

Related: Antonym of "superlative", but in this case I'm not looking for the opposite, simply the name of the form without the comparison.

Community
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Hooked
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    I don't have a reference to back it up, but I believe it is called the "root". – Kit Z. Fox Dec 10 '15 at 15:50
  • @KitZ.Fox - Please post this as an answer. Do a google search for root word and use that for the source - I don't want to steal your answer, and the others are wrong! – Jascol Dec 10 '15 at 17:27

2 Answers2

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It's called positive degree.[Wiktionary]

e.g. When we speak of one person or thing, we use the positive degree (of an adjective).

HUANG Taizi
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The word you're looking for is 'plain'.

Adjectives inflect for grade: they have three forms:

Plain: tall

Comparative: taller

Superlative: tallest

(Note: The term "plain" is the one introduced by Huddleston & Pullum in their grammar: 'The Cambridge Grammar of The English Language'.)

BillJ
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    Please can you add a source for this. I have never heard of a root word referred to as 'plain' before. – Jascol Dec 10 '15 at 17:28
  • @Jascol CGEL, i.e. The Cambridge Grammar of The English Language (Huddleston & Pullum). (re-messaged - forgot the @ !) – BillJ Dec 10 '15 at 18:16
  • @BillJ: It's better to edit your answer to include the reference there. – herisson Dec 10 '15 at 22:54
  • @sumelic Good point - I've just edited my answer. – BillJ Dec 11 '15 at 11:19
  • Huddleston & Pullum by no means dictates acceptable usage, especially in terminology. This is non-standard, appearing in none of the dictionaries I've consulted. I've not seen it in other works on grammar, either, where 'positive [degree]' or 'absolute' are used. So "The word you're looking for is 'plain' " is unwarranted. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 30 '15 at 14:58
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    @ Edwin Ashworth What a totally negative and useless comment, like most of yours in fact. – BillJ Dec 30 '15 at 15:03
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    @Edwin Ashworth If I choose to subscribe to H&P’s grammar and to pass on their expertise, that’s a matter for me, and not for you to criticise. Deal with it. – BillJ Dec 30 '15 at 15:10
  • If you post it as an arrogation (The word you're looking for is 'plain'.), I'll downvote it where I think it's merely one option, especially where it's non-standard. Does McCawley use the term? 'H & P use the term ...' is acceptable. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 30 '15 at 15:44
  • @Edwin Ashworth If downvoting gives you some satisfaction, then go ahead. I'll be sure to let H&P know that they're wrong. Btw, I introduced the term 'plain' at my school some years ago, and it was widely accepted as being ideal, not just for adjectives, but also for nouns and verbs. – BillJ Dec 30 '15 at 16:05