Markedness , in
linguistics and subsequently elsewhere, is the state of standing out as unusual or difficult in comparison to a more common or regular form. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant default or minimum-effort form is known as
unmarked; the other, secondary one is
marked. In other words, markedness involves the characterization of a "normal" linguistic unit against one or more of its possible "irregular" forms.