Chomsky Normal Form

Meaning

Noun

• A context-free grammar in which the right hand side of any production rule consists of either one terminal symbol or two non-terminal symbols.
• A context-free grammar in which the right hand side of any production rule consists of either one terminal symbol or two non-terminal symbols (neither of which is the start symbol) or the epsilon (i.e. null string) symbol, but only if the left hand side is the start symbol. (Note: this is the full-fledged version, whereas the previous definition may be said to be defining Chomsky reduced form.)

Origin

• Named after Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), American linguist and philosopher, who first described it.