lexis

See also: Lexis

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek λέξις (léxis, “speech, word”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛksɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛksəs

Noun

lexis (countable and uncountable, plural lexises or lexes or lexeis)

1. (linguistics) The set of all words and phrases in a language; any unified subset of words from a particular language.
   • 2018, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles”, in World Englishes, volume 37, page 249:

     Thus, alongside current lexis, words and senses now obsolete find a place in a dictionary on historical principles.

2. (pedagogy, TEFL) Words, collocations, and common phrases in a language; vocabulary and word combinations.
   • 2014, Paul Lindsay, Teaching English Worldwide, page 346:

     By the 1980s, English language teachers generally had begun to realize that there had been a neglect of lexis in teaching methods and coursebooks. […] The basic truth that without vocabulary or lexis we can't express anything had to be restated and a new approach to teaching lexis was needed.

3. The vocabulary used by a writer.

   In this broadsheet newspaper, the reporter uses a complicated and formal lexis which I find hard to understand.

Coordinate terms

• lexicon

Derived terms

• lexiplacy, lexoplacy (word-coining, word-creation)

Related terms

• lexeme
• lexicalization
• lexicalize
• lexome

 

Anagrams

• Silex, silex

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek λέξις (léxis).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈlek.sis/, [ˈɫ̪ɛks̠ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlek.sis/, [ˈlɛksis]

Noun

lexis f (irregular, genitive lexeōs); third declension

1. a word

Declension

Third-declension noun (irregular, Greek-type).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lexis	—
Genitive	lexeōs	—
Dative	—	—
Accusative	—	lexīs lexeis
Ablative	—	—
Vocative	—	—

Note: The plural form is also spelled λέξεις (léxeis).

Synonyms

• dictiō
• verbum

Further reading

• “lexis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lexis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lexis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lexis”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin