lexical

Etymology

The American Heritage Dictionary and Dictionary.com take it as formed from English lexicon + -al,^[2][3] and Klein refers it to the same two parts.^[4] The OED derives it from Ancient Greek λεξικός (lexikós, “pertaining to words”) and λεξικόν (lexikón, “lexicon”) with the suffix -al,^[5][6] and Etymonline from a Latinised form of the Greek adjective.^[7] The Greek adjective is from λέξις (léxis, “word, phrase, diction”),^[5][8][7] from λέγω (légō, “to speak, to say”),^[5][7][2] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace to Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to collect, gather”).^[7][2] The variant lexic is, according to Merriam-Webster Unabridged, a back-formation from lexical.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to the words or vocabulary of a language: 1836, in Nicholas Wiseman's lectures on science and religion,^[5][9] 1833 in Etymonline.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the first the word was often set against grammatical, the vocabulary of a language as opposed to its grammar.^[5][10][9] The sense "relating to a lexicon or dictionary" followed in 1873.^[5][10] In linguistics, lexical meaning is the meaning of a base apart from its grammatical forms, as of love in loves, loved and loving.^[10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records a phonetic sense: a word's lexical pronunciation is the stressed one it has when said on its own, as against its weaker form in running speech.^[9]

Timeline

• 1836 – relating to the words or vocabulary of a language.^[5][9]
• 1873 – relating to a lexicon or dictionary.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to the words or vocabulary of a language, as distinct from its grammar: Spanish and Portuguese share most of their lexical stock.^[9][11][5]
2. Relating to a lexicon or dictionary.^[11][5][10]
3. (phonetics) Of a pronunciation, said with full stress, as when a word is uttered alone.^[9]

Word family

• lexicality
• lexically
• lexicalize

Related words

• lexeme
• lexicon
• lexis
• lexicography
• dialect
• logos

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins