lexicon

American  

[lek-si-kon, -kuhn] / ˈlɛk sɪˌkɒn, -kən /

noun

• lexica,
  plural
• lexicons
  plural

1. 

   a wordbook or dictionary, especially of Greek, Latin, or Hebrew.

   Synonyms:

   concordance, gloss, thesaurus, glossary

2. the vocabulary of a particular language, field, social class, person, etc.

3. inventory or record.

   unparalleled in the lexicon of human relations.

4. Linguistics.

   1. the total inventory of morphemes in a given language.

   2. the inventory of base morphemes plus their combinations with derivational morphemes.

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lexicon British  

/ ˈlɛksɪkən /

noun

1. a dictionary, esp one of an ancient language such as Greek or Hebrew

2. a list of terms relating to a particular subject

3. the vocabulary of a language or of an individual

4. linguistics the set of all the morphemes of a language

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• lexica
  plural
• lexicons
  plural

Etymology

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 ( def. )

Explanation

A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or subject. "No-hitter," "go-ahead run," and "Baltimore chop" are part of the baseball lexicon. Lexicons are really dictionaries, though a lexicon usually covers an ancient language or the special vocabulary of a particular author or field of study. In linguistics, the lexicon is the total stock of words and word elements that carry meaning. Lexicon is from Greek lexikon (biblion) meaning "word(book)," ultimately going back to legein, "to speak."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lexicon lexicons

The drink menu was full of references to the community’s internal lexicon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

Whether parliament's new lexicon endures remains to be seen.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

Over the past decade, the concept of “buckets” has entered the investment-adviser lexicon.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

Textualism requires courts to read words in their statutory setting, not as isolated entries in a lexicon.

From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026

In the local lexicon, Truman High, in otherwise prosperous Bucks County, is “on the wrong side of Route 1.”

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Philip Jefferson in recent weeks have introduced ‘skip’ and ‘skipping’ into Fed-watchers’ lexicons.

From Reuters ● Jun. 7, 2023

No wonder that young people have also seemed especially receptive to absorbing the ideas of therapy into their lives and their lexicons — speaking with casual familiarity about triggers and traumas and diagnoses.

From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2022

“Popular threads develop intrinsic behavioral norms, and informal vocabularies or lexicons, which become narrower and narrower,” he told me in an email.

From Slate ● Jan. 24, 2022

The message is followed by one of the many Pengsoo-specific slang terms that have entered viewers’ lexicons: “Peng-love-you.”

From The Guardian ● Dec. 3, 2020

Satisfactory lexicons of patristic Greek and Latin are still a desideratum: but assistance may be obtained in the study of the Greek fathers from Suicer’s Thesaurus, the Lexicon of Byzantine Greek by E.A.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various