subclass

English

Alternative forms

• sub-class

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *upó

Proto-Italic *supo

Latin sub

Latin sub-der.

English sub-

Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁-der.

Proto-Italic *klāssis

Latin classisder.

Middle French classebor.

English class

English subclass

From sub- + class.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌbklæs/, /ˈsʌbklɑːs/
• Hyphenation: sub‧class

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

subclass (plural subclasses)

1. A secondary class within a main class.
   • 1959, "Steam's Finest Hour" edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co., referring to the R-1 Mountain class loco.

     These 4-8-2's, of which B&M eventually purchased 18 in various subclasses, could almost haul the tonnage of a T and more than made up for the slight deficiency by raising the maximum speed limit from 45 to 70 miles per hour, thanks to 73-inch drivers.

   • 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 116:

     Goffin is a prose text interspersed with short lists of typical terms exemplifying certain sub-classes of Indian English lexis.

2. (taxonomy) A rank directly below class.
3. (object-oriented programming) An object class derived from another class (its superclass) from which it inherits a base set of properties and methods.

Synonyms

• (general): subset
• (computing): child class, derived class, heir class

Antonyms

• superclass
• superset

Hypernyms

• class

Derived terms

• intersubclass
• intrasubclass
• subclasser

Translations

secondary class

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 子類別 / 子类别 (zǐlèibié), 子類 / 子类 (zǐlèi)

• Finnish: alaluokka (fi)
• French: sous-classe (fr) f

taxonomy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亞綱 / 亚纲 (zh) (yàgāng)

• Czech: podtřída f
• Dutch: onderklasse (nl) f, subklasse f
• Finnish: alaluokka (fi)
• French: sous-classe (fr) f
• Galician: subclase (gl) f
• German: Unterklasse (de) f, Subklasse (de) f
• Icelandic: undirflokkur m
• Irish: fo-aicme f
• Japanese: 亜綱 (ja) (あこう, akō), サブクラス (sabukurasu)
• Korean: 아강(亞綱) (agang)
• Lithuanian: poklasis m
• Polish: podklasa (pl) f
• Portuguese: subclasse f
• Russian: подкла́сс (ru) m (podkláss)
• Swedish: underklass (sv) c, subklass c
• Tagalog: kubliphay
• Telugu: ఉపతరగతి (upataragati)
• Turkish: altsınıf
• Volapük: donaklad

computing

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 子類別 / 子类别 (zǐlèibié)

• Czech: podtřída f
• Finnish: aliluokka
• French: classe fille (fr) f
• German: Kindklasse (de) f, Subklasse (de) f, Unterklasse (de) f
• Greek: υποκλάση (el) f (ypoklási)
• Icelandic: undirklasi m
• Irish: fo-aicme f
• Japanese: サブクラス (sabukurasu)
• Polish: podklasa (pl) f
• Portuguese: subclasse f
• Russian: подкла́сс (ru) m (podkláss), класс-насле́дник m (klass-naslédnik)
• Turkish: altsınıf

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} fo-rang m

Verb

subclass (third-person singular simple present subclasses, present participle subclassing, simple past and past participle subclassed)

1. (transitive, computing) (in object-oriented programming) To create a subclass of (some class).

   I subclassed the Button class to create a more specialised FancyButton class for my user interface.

2. (transitive, computing) To cause (an object) to act as an instance of a subclass (by creating the desired subclass and instantiating an object of this subclass).
   • 2000, James D. Foxall, MCSD in a Nutshell: The Visual Basic Exams, page 93:

     Since Windows knows about these events, your application should be able to know about them as well. In order to accomplish this, subclass the window of a form or control, intercepting all of its events.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “cause to act as a member of a subclass”): unsubclass

Derived terms

• subclassable
• unsubclass