One of the most central distinctions in Indian philosophy of language is that between primary and secondary meaning. While this could be characterized as the distinction between “literal” and “non-literal” meaning, for some philosophers, word meanings that seem intuitively literal are classified as being secondary. For instance, the word “cow” in the sentence “A cow is to be led out to pasture” would, according to Mīmāṃsā philosophers following Kumārila, be taken as an instance of secondary meaning, for reasons discussed below. Further, since the literal/non-literal distinction in Western philosophy of language is vexed (see the distinction “literal/non-literal” in the entry on pragmatics), this entry henceforth avoids such terminology.