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lexeme

lexeme

9.4
A basic word that includes all its different forms, like run and ran
  • noun
  • /ˈlɛksim/
  • Specialized
translation icon : lexema
  • (Aside from some lexemes like "wooden" or "metallic," this is what you'd use to say, e.g., ador nigwinoon, "a stone chair" or "a chair made out of stone.")

Examples

  • Understanding a lexeme is essential for analyzing the structure of a language.

  • Later, the formula increasingly uses lexemes of return rather than progress (we now return; I must go back).

    Academic text (2003)
  • Finally, Jud, who believed that autumare was primarily a legal term, adduced several other Latin lexemes belonging to that same semantic sphere that had survived exclusively in Hispano-Romance.

    Academic text (2000)
  • For Monika Fludernik, "mere repetition is very difficult to handle," and "the choice of repeating a lexeme rather than using the pronominal anaphor remains somewhat of a puzzle" (139).

    Academic text (2005)
  • In linguistics, a lexeme can refer to variations of a word such as 'run,' 'running,' and 'ran.'

  • The dictionary provides information about each lexeme and its meanings.

Surface Forms

lexeme singular
lexemes plural

Etymology

Lexeme comes from the Greek lexis, meaning 'word', and the ending -eme, meaning 'unit' (as in phoneme). So a lexeme is the basic 'word' unit that covers all forms like 'run', 'runs', 'ran', and 'running'.