classeme (n.)

A term used by some European LINGUISTS (e.g. Eugen Coseriu (1921–2002)), to refer to the relatively abstract SEMANTIC FEATURES shared by LEXICAL items belonging to different semantic FIELDS, e.g. ANIMATE/inanimate, adult/child. In this approach, the term contrasts with the irreducible semantic features (SEMES) which work, at a very particular level, within a particular semantic field, e.g. table being identified in terms of ‘number of legs’, ‘shape’, etc.