Editing Lexicon (section)

{{Short description|Vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge}}
{{About|the linguistic concept}}
A '''lexicon''' (plural: '''lexicons''', rarely '''lexica''') is the [[vocabulary]] of a [[language]] or branch of [[knowledge]] (such as [[nautical]] or [[medical]]).  In [[linguistics]], a lexicon is a language's inventory of [[lexeme]]s. The word ''lexicon'' derives from [[Koine Greek language|Greek]] word {{lang|grc|λεξικόν}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|lexikon}}), neuter of {{lang|grc|λεξικός}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|lexikos}}) meaning 'of or for words'.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dlecikos λεξικός] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514152114/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=lecikos |date=2021-05-14 }} in Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon'' (Perseus Digital Library). Sc. {{lang|grc|βιβλίον}} {{lang|grc-Latn|biblios}} 'book'.</ref>

Linguistic theories generally regard human languages as consisting of two parts: a lexicon, essentially a catalogue of a language's words (its wordstock); and a [[grammar]], a system of rules which allow for the combination of those words into meaningful sentences. The lexicon is also thought to include [[bound morpheme]]s, which cannot stand alone as words (such as most [[affix]]es).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OKvziaqXzXwC&q=morphemes+lexicon&pg=PA235|title=Morphological structure, lexical representation, and lexical access|last2=Taft|first2=Marcus|date=1994|publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers|isbn=9780863779268|last1=Dominiek|first1=Sandra}}</ref> In some analyses, [[compound word]]s and certain classes of [[idiom]]atic expressions, [[collocation]]s and other [[phraseme]]s are also considered to be part of the lexicon. [[Dictionary|Dictionaries]] are lists of the lexicon, in alphabetical order, of a given language; usually, however, bound morphemes are not included.