BCS Preliminary Test key terms

The phonetic joining of two adjacent sounds or words in Bangla, where the final sound of the first word merges with the initial sound of the second, producing a combined form such as বিদ্যা + আলয় = বিদ্যালয়.

A Bangla word-formation process in which two or more words combine into a single compound word, with the case ending of the first member usually dropped, as in রাজপুত্র from রাজার পুত্র.

The grammatical relationship between a noun or pronoun and the verb of a sentence, expressed through case endings or postpositions; Bangla recognises nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative and genitive roles.

A suffix attached to a Bangla noun or pronoun to show its grammatical case and its relation to other words in the sentence, such as -কে for the accusative and -তে for the locative.

In Bangla literary aesthetics, the emotional flavour or aesthetic pleasure that a reader or audience experiences from a work; classical poetics names nine principal rasas, including করুণ, হাস্য and বীর.

A figure of speech or rhetorical ornament in Bangla literature, divided broadly into শব্দালংকার (sound-based devices such as অনুপ্রাস) and অর্থালংকার (meaning-based devices such as উপমা and রূপক).

A simile in Bangla rhetoric in which one thing is compared with another of a different kind using words such as মতো, ন্যায় or সদৃশ, explicitly stating the point of resemblance.

An age of Bangla literature, roughly the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, dominated by descriptive and devotional poetry that classified and illustrated rhetorical figures, with Bharatchandra as a major figure.

A class of medieval Bangla narrative poetry that narrates the power and benevolence of a deity, such as মনসামঙ্গল or চণ্ডীমঙ্গল, blending myth, folk belief and social description.

A fourteen-line poem usually written in iambic pentameter with a fixed rhyme scheme; the Shakespearean form has three quatrains and a couplet, while the Petrarchan form divides into an octave and a sestet.

Unrhymed poetry written in a regular metre, most commonly iambic pentameter; it became the standard medium of English dramatic and epic verse through Marlowe, Shakespeare and Milton.

A metrical line of five iambic feet, each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, giving ten syllables per line with rising rhythm.

A late eighteenth and early nineteenth century literary movement valuing imagination, individual feeling, nature and the common language of ordinary people, represented in England by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats.

Seventeenth-century English verse characterised by intellectual wit, elaborate and surprising conceits, and argumentative structure, chiefly associated with John Donne and Andrew Marvell.

A situation in a play where the audience knows a fact that a character does not, so the character's words or actions carry a meaning beyond what that character intends.

A speech delivered by a character alone on stage, revealing private thoughts and motives directly to the audience rather than to any other character in the play.

The comparison of two quantities by division and the statement that two such comparisons are equal; if a:b = c:d then ad = bc, a property used to solve many sharing and scaling problems.

A fraction or ratio expressed with a denominator of one hundred, allowing proportional comparison; a change from an old value to a new one is measured as the change divided by the old value, then multiplied by one hundred.

The sum of a set of quantities divided by the number of quantities; it represents a central value and is used to find unknown members when the total and count are known.

Interest calculated on the original principal plus previously accumulated interest, so the amount grows as P(1 + r/n)^(nt); it exceeds simple interest for any period longer than one interval.

A class of arithmetic problems in which the rate of work of each person or pipe is expressed as the fraction of the job completed per unit time, and rates are added when they work together.

The unicameral national parliament of Bangladesh, consisting of 350 members, of whom 300 are elected directly from territorial constituencies and 50 seats are reserved for women elected by the members.

The supreme law of Bangladesh, adopted on 4 November 1972 and effective from 16 December 1972, establishing a unitary parliamentary republic and enumerating fundamental rights and directive principles.

The presiding officer of the Jatiya Sangsad, elected by its members, who conducts proceedings, maintains order and discharges constitutional duties such as administering the oath to the Prime Minister.

The authority of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to block a substantive draft resolution by casting a negative vote, a privilege held by the five permanent members.

The principal organ of the United Nations responsible for maintaining international peace and security, with five permanent and ten elected members, empowered to impose sanctions and authorise force.

One of the five states, namely China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, holding a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and the accompanying veto right.

The net movement of solvent molecules through a semi-permeable membrane from a region of lower solute concentration to one of higher solute concentration, equalising concentration without external pressure.

The spontaneous movement of particles from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration caused by random molecular motion, continuing until equilibrium is reached.

The process by which green plants, algae and some bacteria use light energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen, with chlorophyll acting as the light-absorbing pigment.

A positional number system using only the digits 0 and 1 with base two, in which each place value is a power of two; it is the native representation of data in digital computers.

A bit is a single binary digit, either 0 or 1, the smallest unit of digital information; a byte is a group of eight bits, commonly used to encode one character.

A system of logical operations on values that are either true or false, using operators such as AND, OR and NOT; it underlies the design of digital circuits and program control flow.

The quality of governance in which decisions, rules and spending are open to public scrutiny, with information disclosed promptly and in accessible form so that citizens can hold officials accountable.

The obligation of public officials to answer for their decisions and use of resources to citizens and oversight bodies, and to accept consequences when their conduct falls short of stated standards.

The principle that everyone, including government officials, is subject to law that is publicly known, equally applied and independently adjudicated, so that power is not exercised arbitrarily.

A low-lying tract of land formed where a river slows and deposits sediment as it enters a sea or lake, often branching into distributaries; Bangladesh contains the largest such delta in the world.

A partially enclosed coastal body of water where freshwater from a river mixes with saltwater from the sea, creating brackish conditions and rich but fragile ecosystems.

A steep wave of incoming tide that travels upstream in a funnel-shaped estuary or river channel, caused by the tide advancing faster than the river current can resist.

A large-scale rotating storm system around a low-pressure centre; in the Bay of Bengal such tropical cyclones bring storm surges, heavy rain and destructive winds to coastal Bangladesh.

An abnormal rise of sea level above the predicted tide, driven mainly by strong onshore winds and low atmospheric pressure during a cyclone, and the leading cause of death in coastal Bangladesh.

A Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and government partnership that trains volunteers, maintains early warning systems and operates cyclone shelters to evacuate coastal communities before storms make landfall.