Definition of univocal – What it is, Meaning and Concept

The term univocal comes from the late Latin word univŏcus, which refers to that which has a just name or sound. It’s about a adjective that allows you to qualify what you present equal value or nature as another element.

Univocal usually refers to what has a only possible interpretation or what maintains its meaning or essence no variation. For example: “The president’s actions have a univocal sense, which is to generate well-being for all members of the community”, “I do not think that people have a unique destination already written”, “Those of us who make up the group have had a unambiguous vision on this problem for many years”.

Take the case of the letter of a song. Although all listeners hear the same words, their interpretation of the content can be variable. In other words, each individual interprets something different according to their own reading, in turn influenced by multiple factors. It can be affirmed, therefore, that the song lacks a unambiguous interpretation.

The idea univocal, on the other hand, you can mention the correspondence that exists between an element of a set with a single element of another set. This notion appears in the field of math.

Suppose that an element of a starting set (known as domain) has a single image in the arrival set (the codomain). In this case, the mathematical correspondence is univocal. Visually, the univocal correspondence is reflected in that a single arrow comes out of each element of the domain with image.