lexicon
lexicon Quick reference
Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins (3 ed.)
...lexicon [E17th] While a dictionary [LME] goes back to the Latin dicere ‘to speak’, lexicon comes from Greek lexikon (biblion) ‘(book) of words’, from lexis ‘word’, from legein ...
Lexicon Quick reference
The Oxford Companion to the English Language (2 ed.)
...Lexicon . 1. A term in linguistics , especially psycholinguistics, for the network of lexemes as stored in the brain, including both content and function words. 2. A work of reference listing and explaining words: Henry G. Liddell & Robert Scott , Greek–English Lexicon ( 1843 ). A lexicon is usually a dictionary that deals either with a classical or scriptural language or a technical or facetious subject ( Jonathon Green , The Cynic’s Lexicon: A Dictionary of Amoral Advice , 1984 ). It may also, however, be a word list ( Roland Hindmarsh...
lexicon Quick reference
A Dictionary of Media and Communication (3 ed.)
... 1. (linguistics) The vocabulary of a language (its lexical items or lexemes ), of an individual, or of a branch of knowledge . 2. A dictionary. ...
lexicon n. Quick reference
A Dictionary of Psychology (4 ed.)
... n. 1. The entire vocabulary of a language, especially one that is listed alphabetically like a dictionary. English is believed to have the largest lexicon of any language: the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.) defines more than 500,000 words. 2. The entire vocabulary of an individual. The US psychologist George A(rmitage) Miller ( 1920–2012 ) estimated in 1991 that the average high-school graduate has a passive lexicon of about 60,000 words that are understood but not necessarily used. Also called a mental lexicon . 3. A list of words...
lexicon Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar (2 ed.)
... The complete set of vocabulary items in a language, especially considered as part of a theoretical description. In theoretical frameworks the lexicon is a special component consisting of lexical entries which may contain not only semantic information about each item, but also much more complete phonological and syntactic information than ordinary dictionaries would offer. There is a lively debate about the question of how much information should be contained in the lexicon. •• mental lexicon : the store of words in the mind. How it is organized is...
lexicon Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics (3 ed.)
... Any aspect of a language, or a part of a linguist’s account of a language, that is centred on units which have individual meanings. Distinguished as such from grammar or syntax , as concerned with structures in the abstract. But structures in grammar themselves reflect the properties of the lexical units that enter into them, which may be very general or very specific. Therefore the precise scope of a lexicon, as a description of the properties of or assigned to individual units, will vary from one theory of language to another. In one account it has...
Lexicon Reference library
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (2 ed.)
...Grammar In its broadest sense, the lexicon is a “list of basic irregularities” of a language (Bloomfield 1933 :274), often viewed as an inventory of morphemes or of words. Within generative grammar, four main questions have arisen concerning the lexicon: (a) What elements does the lexicon contain? Are these only morphemes with no internal constituent structure, or also structurally complex items such as words or even phrases? (b) What are the properties of those elements, and how are they represented? (c) Is the lexicon merely a list, or does it comprise a...
mental lexicon n. Quick reference
A Dictionary of Psychology (4 ed.)
...lexicon n. Another name for a lexicon ( 2 )...
mental lexicon Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics (3 ed.)
...lexicon A lexicon as assumed by many psycholinguists to be represented in the minds of...
Lexicon, the Philosophical Reference library
David H. Sanford
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (2 ed.)
..., the Philosophical . Originally compiled by Daniel Dennett and Joe Lambert , and later by Dennett alone, this collection of definitions converts proper names of (mostly twentieth-century) philosophers into common nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. Entry examples follow. braithwaite , n. The interval of time between two books. ‘His second book followed his first after a long braithwaite.’ carnap , n. A formally defined symbol, operator, special bit of notation. grice , n. Conceptual intricacy. ‘His examination of Hume is distinguished by...
lexicon Reference library
Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (4 ed.)
...lexicon . The plural is lexicons...
lexicon Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
... XVII. — modL. — Gr. lexikón , n. sg. of lexikós pert. to words, f. léxis phrase, word, f. légein speak; see LECTION . So lexicographer, lexicography...
lexicon Quick reference
New Oxford Rhyming Dictionary (2 ed.)
... • blacken , bracken, slacken • Sri Lankan • Alaskan , Gascon, Madagascan, Nebraskan • Aachen , darken, hearken, kraken, Marcan, Petrarchan • Interlaken • beckon , Deccan, pekan, reckon • Mencken • awaken , bacon, betaken, forsaken, Jamaican, mistaken, partaken, shaken, taken, waken • godforsaken • archdeacon , beacon, Costa Rican, deacon, Dominican, Mohican, Mozambican, Puerto Rican, weaken • quicken , sicken, stricken, thicken, Wiccan • silken • Incan , Lincoln • brisken , Franciscan • barbican • Rubicon • Gallican • Anglican • ...
