lexicology
Study of vocabulary
Lexicology is the study of words—their meanings, relationships, and how they function in a language.
It examines vocabulary as a system, including how words are formed, how meanings shift over time, and how words relate to each other through synonymy, antonymy, and other connections.
Distinct from lexicography, which is the practice of making dictionaries.
Alphabetical word reference
- glossaryAlphabetical list with definitions
- thesaurusSynonym and antonym compendium
- wordlistCompiled vocabulary set
- definitionStatement of meaning
entry · headword · corpus · concordance · citation · monolingual · bilingual · descriptive
What something signifies
- sensePerception or judgment
- denotationWord's explicit dictionary meaning
- connotationImplied sense, not dictionary
- referenceDirecting attention elsewhere
signification · polysemy · homonymy · synonymy · antonymy · amelioration · pejoration · narrowing
Smallest meaningful language unit
- affixWord-part modifier
- prefixRoot-modifying front element
- suffixWord-ending addition
- inflectionWord form alteration
derivation · compound · root · stem · base · affixation · agglutination · portmanteau
Fundamental dictionary unit
- wordLinguistic meaning unit
- terminologySubject-specific vocabulary
- jargonSpecialized professional vocabulary
- slangInformal in-group vocabulary
neologism · collocation · idiom · phrase · synonym · antonym · homonym · polysemy
Original word form
- rootUnderground absorbing structure
- originStarting point or source
- cognateWord sharing etymological origin
- loanwordImported vocabulary item
borrowing · derivation · proto-language · diachronic · philology · reconstruction · calque · doublet
Person lending their name
- demonymName for locals
- patronymName from one's father
- exonymOutsiders' term for place
- place-nameGeographic location's title
dictionary
Alphabetical word reference
- glossaryAlphabetical list with definitions
- thesaurusSynonym and antonym compendium
- wordlistCompiled vocabulary set
definition · entry · headword · corpus · concordance · citation · monolingual · bilingual · descriptive · prescriptive
meaning
What something signifies
- sensePerception or judgment
- denotationWord's explicit dictionary meaning
- connotationImplied sense, not dictionary
reference · signification · polysemy · homonymy · synonymy · antonymy · amelioration · pejoration · narrowing · broadening
morpheme
Smallest meaningful language unit
inflection · derivation · compound · root · stem · base · affixation · agglutination · portmanteau · blend
lexeme
Fundamental dictionary unit
- wordLinguistic meaning unit
- terminologySubject-specific vocabulary
- jargonSpecialized professional vocabulary
slang · neologism · collocation · idiom · phrase · synonym · antonym · homonym · polysemy · headword
etymon
Original word form
- rootUnderground absorbing structure
- originStarting point or source
- cognateWord sharing etymological origin
loanword · borrowing · derivation · proto-language · diachronic · philology · reconstruction · calque · doublet · etymology
eponym
Person lending their name
- linguisticslinguistics, phoneme, phonemes, morpheme, morphemes
- historical linguisticslanguage families, cognates, proto-languages, proto-language, Indo-European
- Slavic linguisticsSlavic languages, Old Church Slavonic, Church Slavonic, Russian, Polish
- Uralic LanguagesFinnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Moksha, Magyar
lexicologysyntax
Rules for arranging words
grammar · phonology · phonetics · morphology · pragmatics
lexicon, lexical, lexicography, lexicographer, lexis, lexicons, lexicographers