a wordbook or dictionary, especially of Greek, Latin, or Hebrew.
the vocabulary of a particular language, field, social class, person, etc.
inventory or record: unparalleled in the lexicon of human relations.
Linguistics.
the total inventory of morphemes in a given language.
the inventory of base morphemes plus their combinations with derivational morphemes.
Origin of lexicon
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Modern Latin, from Medieval Greek, Greek lexikòn (biblíon) “word (book),” from lexikón neuter of adjective lexikós “of or pertaining to words” + biblíon “book”; see lexis-ic;see also Bible
SYNONYMS FOR lexicon
1 glossary, thesaurus, gloss, concordance.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR lexicon ON THESAURUS.COM
historical usage of lexicon
The noun lexicon comes from New Latin, from Greek lexikòn ( biblíon ) “word (book).” Lexikón is first used for the dictionary of Photius, the 9th-century Byzantine scholar, lexicographer, and patriarch of Constantinople (Photius could very well have coined the Greek word). English lexicon was first used in the sense “dictionary, wordbook,” and usually referred to dictionaries of Greek and the culturally important Semitic languages (Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic). Dictionaries of these particular languages were traditionally written in Latin, and since Latin had no native word for dictionary,lexicon was the word generally used. Our English word dictionary comes from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium, the neuter form of dictiōnārius ( liber ) “word (book)”—that is, “a phrase book, a beginner’s textbook (of Latin).”
Words nearby lexicon
lexical order, lexicog., lexicographer, lexicography, lexicology, lexicon, lexicostatistics, lexigram, lexigraphy, Lexington, Lexington and Concord, Battle of
The game’s lexicon was built first with the New General Service List to serve as its foundation.
Former Apple engineer and autocorrect creator builds his first app, a word game called Up Spell|Sarah Perez|October 7, 2020|TechCrunch
The fast-paced, fun word game challenges users to spell all the words you can in two minutes and uses a lexicon of words Kocienda built to allow for the inclusion of proper names.
Former Apple engineer and autocorrect creator builds his first app, a word game called Up Spell|Sarah Perez|October 7, 2020|TechCrunch
Root out the biased language we so often use when discussing women and people of color, not by unilaterally relying on anti-bias training, but by fixing the underlying systems that enable this bias to creep into the talent assessment lexicon.
How to be a fair-pay CEO|matthewheimer|August 25, 2020|Fortune
In academic speak, observing and learning from other people is called “social influence,” a term that’s obviously crossed into pop culture lexicon.
This Is How Your Brain Responds to Social Influence|Shelly Fan|August 25, 2020|Singularity Hub
Alongside YOLO, “same damn time” is one of the most memorable recent additions to the lexicon.
Future Makes Us Rethink Everything We Thought We Knew About Rap Artists|Luke Hopping|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Twenty years after the phrase entered the American lexicon, “Soccer Mom” retains its power as hurtful speech.
Up To a Point: Oops, I Enjoyed Soccer|P. J. O’Rourke|July 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This week I also gave a lot of thought to many of the sayings in our lexicon that need updating.
Some 4 a.m. Brainstorming on How to Make Obama Tougher Than Putin|Annabelle Gurwitch|May 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The phrase became part of the lexicon and the media became like an echo chamber.
Breaking: Trend Stories Are Bullsh*t|Bonnie Bertram|April 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If only these people realized how many other Arabic-based words are part of our daily lexicon.