lexis

See also: Lexis

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek λέξις (léxis, “diction”, “word”), from λεγ- (leg-, “to speak”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛksəs
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: lĕkʹsĭs, IPA^(key): /ˈlɛksɪs/,

Noun

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

1. (linguistics) The set of all words and phrases in a language.
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.

Derived terms

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

Anagrams

• silex

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek λέξις (léxis).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈlek.sis/, [ˈɫɛk.sɪs]

Noun

lexis f (genitive lexeōs); third declension

1. A word.

Declension

Irregular. Accusative plural lexeis.

Synonyms

• nōmen, verbum

References

• 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