intertextuality
noun
intertextuality is a noun meaning “The idea that a given text is a response to what has already been written, be it explicit or implicit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled I-N-T-E-R-T-E-X-T-U-A-L-I-T-Y, and it appears about once in every 14 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of intertextuality is intertextualities.
What does intertextuality mean?
noun
- 1
The idea that a given text is a response to what has already been written, be it explicit or implicit.
When one studies the intertextuality of "Hamlet", one realises that William Shakespeare must have read thousands of books.
- 2
The reference to another separate and distinct text within a text.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of intertextuality
- intertextualities plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is intertextuality?
Intertextuality appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 114,361st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Intertextuality in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the idea that a given text is a response to what has already been written:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | intertextualité |
| German | Intertextualität |
| Spanish | intertextualidad |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does intertextuality come from?
Borrowed from French intertextualité.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).