| DocBook: The Definitive Guide 2.0.17 (Alpha)

# glossterm

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$Date$

glossterm — A glossary term

## Synopsis

### Mixed Content Model

    glossterm ::=
    (#PCDATA|footnoteref|xref|biblioref|abbrev|acronym|citation|
     citerefentry|citetitle|citebiblioid|emphasis|firstterm|
     foreignphrase|glossterm|termdef|footnote|phrase|orgname|quote|
     trademark|wordasword|personname|link|olink|ulink|action|
     application|classname|methodname|interfacename|exceptionname|
     ooclass|oointerface|ooexception|package|command|computeroutput|
     database|email|envar|errorcode|errorname|errortype|errortext|
     filename|function|guibutton|guiicon|guilabel|guimenu|guimenuitem|
     guisubmenu|hardware|interface|keycap|keycode|keycombo|keysym|
     literal|code|constant|markup|medialabel|menuchoice|mousebutton|
     option|optional|parameter|prompt|property|replaceable|
     returnvalue|sgmltag|structfield|structname|symbol|systemitem|uri|
     token|type|userinput|varname|nonterminal|anchor|author|
     authorinitials|corpauthor|corpcredit|modespec|othercredit|
     productname|productnumber|revhistory|remark|subscript|
     superscript|inlinegraphic|inlinemediaobject|inlineequation|
     synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|classsynopsis|fieldsynopsis|
     constructorsynopsis|destructorsynopsis|methodsynopsis|indexterm|
     beginpage)*

### Attributes

Common attributes

Name | Type | Default
baseform | CDATA | None
linkend | IDREF | None

## Description

`GlossTerm` identifies a term that appears in a `Glossary` or `GlossList`. This element occurs in two very different places: it is both an inline, and a structure element of a `GlossEntry`. As an inline, it identifies a term defined in a glossary, and may point to it. Within a `GlossEntry`, it identifies the term defined by that particular entry.

### Processing expectations

As an inline, `GlossTerm`s frequently get special typographic treatment, such as italics. In an online environment, they may also form a link (explicitly or implicitly) to the corresponding definition in a glossary.

`GlossTerm`s must not be nested within other `GlossTerm`s. Because DocBook is harmonizing towards XML, this restriction is difficult to enforce with the DTD. The processing of nested `GlossTerm`s is undefined.

As part of a `GlossEntry`, `GlossTerm`s are usually set as block and separated from the definition.

### Future Changes

The `InterfaceDefinition` element will be discarded in DocBook V4.0. It will no longer be available in the content model of this element.

### Future Changes

`RevHistory` will be removed.

### Parents

These elements contain glossterm: `application`, `attribution`, `bibliomisc`, `bridgehead`, `citation`, `citetitle`, `emphasis`, `entry`, `firstterm`, `foreignphrase`, `glossentry`, `glosssee`, `glossseealso`, `glossterm`, `lineannotation`, `link`, `literallayout`, `lotentry`, `member`, `msgaud`, `olink`, `para`, `phrase`, `primary`, `primaryie`, `productname`, `programlisting`, `quote`, `refentrytitle`, `refpurpose`, `remark`, `screen`, `screeninfo`, `secondary`, `secondaryie`, `see`, `seealso`, `seealsoie`, `seeie`, `seg`, `segtitle`, `simpara`, `subtitle`, `synopsis`, `td`, `term`, `termdef`, `tertiary`, `tertiaryie`, `th`, `title`, `titleabbrev`, `tocback`, `tocentry`, `tocfront`, `ulink`.

### Children

The following elements occur in glossterm: `abbrev`, `acronym`, `action`, `anchor`, `application`, `author`, `authorinitials`, `beginpage`, `biblioref`, `citation`, `citebiblioid`, `citerefentry`, `citetitle`, `classname`, `classsynopsis`, `cmdsynopsis`, `code`, `command`, `computeroutput`, `constant`, `constructorsynopsis`, `corpauthor`, `corpcredit`, `database`, `destructorsynopsis`, `email`, `emphasis`, `envar`, `errorcode`, `errorname`, `errortext`, `errortype`, `exceptionname`, `fieldsynopsis`, `filename`, `firstterm`, `footnote`, `footnoteref`, `foreignphrase`, `funcsynopsis`, `function`, `glossterm`, `guibutton`, `guiicon`, `guilabel`, `guimenu`, `guimenuitem`, `guisubmenu`, `hardware`, `indexterm`, `inlineequation`, `inlinegraphic`, `inlinemediaobject`, `interface`, `interfacename`, `keycap`, `keycode`, `keycombo`, `keysym`, `link`, `literal`, `markup`, `medialabel`, `menuchoice`, `methodname`, `methodsynopsis`, `modespec`, `mousebutton`, `nonterminal`, `olink`, `ooclass`, `ooexception`, `oointerface`, `option`, `optional`, `orgname`, `othercredit`, `package`, `parameter`, `personname`, `phrase`, `productname`, `productnumber`, `prompt`, `property`, `quote`, `remark`, `replaceable`, `returnvalue`, `revhistory`, `sgmltag`, `structfield`, `structname`, `subscript`, `superscript`, `symbol`, `synopsis`, `systemitem`, `termdef`, `token`, `trademark`, `type`, `ulink`, `uri`, `userinput`, `varname`, `wordasword`, `xref`.

## Attributes

baseform

  `BaseForm`, if specified, contains the root form of the word identified as a `GlossTerm`. If unspecified, the content of `GlossTerm` element should be used. `BaseForm` allows sorting, collating, and indexing to work properly even when different parts of speech are identifed as `GlossTerm`s. For example, `<glossterm>sort</glossterm>` and `<glossterm baseform="sort">sorting</glossterm>` .

linkend

  `Linkend` points to a related element, generally the `GlossEntry` that defines it.

## See Also

`firstterm`.

## Examples

For examples, see `beginpage`, `firstterm`, `glossary`, `glosslist`.

glossseealso |  | graphic

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