The word paradigm has been used in linguistics and science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek ""??????????"" (paradeigma), ""pattern, example, sample"" from the verb ""????????????"" (paradeiknumi), ""exhibit, represent, expose"" and that from ""????"" (para), ""beside, by"" + ""????????"" (deiknumi), ""to show, to point out"". Until the 1960s, the word was specific to grammar: the 1900 Merriam-Webster dictionary defines its technical use only in the context of grammar or, in rhetoric, as a term for an illustrative parable or fable.