A headword , head word , lemma , or sometimes catchword is the word under which a set of related dictionary A dictionary, also referred to as a lexicon, wordbook, or vocabulary, is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a or encyclopaedia An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge entries appear. The headword is used to locate the entry, and dictates its alphabetical position. Depending on the size and nature of the dictionary or encyclopedia, the entry may include alternative meanings of the word, its etymology Etymology is the study of the history of words, where they are from, and how their form and meaning have changed over time and pronunciation Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect , compound words In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word-formation that creates compound lexemes (the other word-formation process being derivation). Compounding or Word-compounding refers to the faculty and device of language to form new words by combining or putting together old words. In or phrases that contain the headword, and encyclopedic information about the concepts represented by the word.
For example, the headword bread Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and possibly more ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed, fried, or baked on an unoiled skillet. It may be leavened or unleavened. Salt, fat and leavening agents such as yeast and baking soda are common ingredients, though bread may may contain the following (simplified) definitions:
Bread (noun)
A common food made from the combination of flour In the culinary sense, flour is a powder made of cereal grains, other seeds, or roots. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history. Wheat flour is one of the most important foods in , water Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. Its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state, water vapor or steam and yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with the 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all yeast species. Most reproduce asexually by budding, although a few do so by binary fission. Yeasts are unicellular, although some species with yeast forms may become multicellular through the formation of
Money (slang)
(verb)
— to know which side your bread is buttered to know how to act in your own best interests.
The Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian contains around 500,000 headwords. The Oxford English Dictionary The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is a dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. As of December 2008[update], the editors had completed one quarter of a third edition has around 300,000 headwords [1] , while Merriam-Webster Merriam–Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language 's Third New International Dictionary has about 470,000 [2] . Both of these values are as claimed by the dictionary makers, and may not be using exactly the same definition of a headword. Also, the Oxford English Dictionary covers each word much more exhaustively than the Third New International.
The term 'lemma' comes from the practice in Greco-Roman antiquity of using the word to refer to the headwords of marginal glosses in scholia Scholia , are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments, either original or extracted from pre-existing commentaries, which are inserted on the margin of the manuscript of an ancient author, as glosses. One who writes scholia is a scholiast ; for this reason, the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning the Archaic , Classical (c. 5th–4th centuries BC), and Hellenistic (c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD) periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek. Its Hellenistic phase is known as Koine (& plural form is sometimes used, namely lemmata (Greek λῆμμα, pl. λήμματα).
Lexicography General lexicography focuses on the design, compilation, use and evaluation of general dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries that provide a description of the language in general use. Such a dictionary is usually called a general dictionary or LGP dictionary. Specialized lexicography focuses on the design, compilation, use and evaluation of specialized
Types of reference works A reference work is a compendium of information, usually of a specific type, compiled in a book for ease of reference. That is, the information is intended to be quickly found when needed. Reference works are usually referred to for particular pieces of information, rather than read beginning to end. The writing style used in these works is
Dictionary A dictionary, also referred to as a lexicon, wordbook, or vocabulary, is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a · Glossary A glossary, also known as an idioticon, vocabulary, or clavis, is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Traditionally, a glossary appears at the end of a book and includes terms within that book which are either newly introduced, uncommon or specialized · Lexicon In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut. of "λεξικός" (lexikos), "of or for words", from "λέ · Thesaurus A thesaurus is a book that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations. The largest thesaurus in the world is the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary[citation needed], which contains more than 920,000 words
Types of dictionaries A dictionary, also referred to as a lexicon, wordbook, or vocabulary, is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a
Bilingual A bilingual dictionary or translation dictionary is a specialized dictionary used to translate words or phrases from one language to another. Bilingual dictionaries can be unidirectional, meaning that they list the meanings of words of one language in another, or can be bidirectional, allowing translation to and from both languages. Bidirectional · Biographical Biographical dictionaries — a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information — have been written in many languages. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country . Others are specialized, in that they cover important names in a subject field, such as architecture or engineering · Conceptual A conceptual dictionary is a dictionary that groups words by concept or semantic relation instead of arranging them in alphabetical order. Examples of conceptual dictionaries are picture dictionaries, thesauri, and visual dictionaries · Defining A defining vocabulary is a published, stable, and culturally accepted core glossary specifically used by dictionary publishers to standardize their use of simple words to explain complex words, and culture-specific idioms or metaphors. It can also be published as a defining dictionary, but the most common use of such dictionaries is to assist in · Electronic An electronic dictionary is either a small handheld computer with integrated reference materials, or a PDA or a smartphone with a dictionary program. Electronic dictionaries are also programs that can be downloaded from the Internet or purchased on a CD-ROM or DVD and installed on a desktop computer or on a lap top, such as an Apple Macintosh or a · Encyclopedic An encyclopedic dictionary typically includes a large number of short listings, arranged alphabetically, and discussing a wide range of topics. Encyclopedic dictionaries can be general, containing articles on topics in many different fields; or they can specialize in a particular field . They may also be organized around a particular academic, · Language for specific purposes dictionary A language for specific purposes dictionary is a dictionary that intends to describe a variety of one or more languages used by experts within a particular subject field. The discipline that deals with LSP dictionaries is usually called specialised lexicography and is a branch of lexicography · Machine-readable A machine-readable dictionary is a dictionary in an electronic form that can be loaded in a database and can be queried via application software. It may be a single language explanatory dictionary or a multi-language dictionary to support translations between two or more languages or a combination of both. Translation software between multiple · Maximizing A maximizing dictionary attempts to include as many words as possible from a particular speech community. An example is the Oxford English Dictionary, as it attempts to lemmatize as many words as possible. This is one way in which to classify dictionaries based on the number of entry words they contain and give information about, i.e. their · Medical A medical dictionary is a lexicon for words used in medicine. The three major English language medical dictionaries are Stedman's, Taber's, and Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary. Other significant medical dictionaries are distributed by Elsevier, the world's largest publisher of medical and scientific literature, and their French division Masson · Minimizing A dictionary is minimizing if it attempts to include only a limited selection of words from a particular speech community. An example of a minimizing dictionary is a dictionary containing the 2,000 most frequently used words in the English language, as it attempts to lemmatise (i.e. show as entry words) only a very limited number of English words · Monolingual learner's Monolingual learner's dictionaries are written for learners of a foreign language. Most such dictionaries are aimed at advanced learners, but in English there are ones for elementary and intermediate users too. These tools of language education are based on the supposition that learners must move from a bilingual dictionary to a monolingual one as · Multi-field A multi-field dictionary is a specialized dictionary that has been designed and compiled to cover the terms within two or more subject fields. Multi-field dictionaries should be contrasted with single-field dictionaries and sub-field dictionaries · Phonetic A phonetic dictionary is a single-field dictionary that allows you to locate the word by the way it sounds. These dictionaries are useful when the spelling of a word is unknown · Picture A picture dictionary is a dictionary that uses photos or drawings to illustrate what the headwords mean. Picture dictionaries are useful in a variety of teaching environments, such as teaching a young child about their native language, and in foreign language instruction for children and adults such as the Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon · Reverse A reverse dictionary is a dictionary organized in a non-standard order that provides the user with information that would be difficult to obtain from a traditional alphabetized dictionary. For example, A Reverse Dictionary of the Spanish Language and Walker's Rhyming Dictionary are reverse dictionaries, the organization of which is based upon · Rhyming A rhyming dictionary is a specialist dictionary designed for use in writing poetry and lyrics. In a rhyming dictionary, words are categorized into equivalence classes that consist of words which rhyme with one another. They will also typically support several different kinds of rhymes, and possibly also alliteration as well · Rime A rime dictionary, rhyme dictionary, or rime book is an ancient type of Chinese dictionary used for writing poetry or other genre requiring rhymes. It collates characters by rime and tone, instead of radical. However, a Chinese dictionary collated by rime and tone is not necessarily a rime dictionary (read more about this at Chinese dictionary) · Single-field A single-field dictionary is a specialized dictionary that has been designed and compiled to cover the terms of one particular subject field. Single-field dictionaries should be contrasted with multi-field dictionaries and sub-field dictionaries · Specialized A specialized dictionary is a dictionary that covers a relatively restricted set of phenomena. The typical type of specialized dictionary is that which in English is often referred to as a technical dictionary and in German as a Fachwörterbuch · Sub-field A sub-field dictionary is a specialized dictionary that has been designed and compiled to cover the terms of one sub-fields of a particular subject field. It is therefore a sub-division of the class of dictionary called a single-field dictionary. Sub-field-field dictionaries should be contrasted with multi-field dictionaries and single-field · Visual A visual dictionary is a dictionary that primarily uses pictures to illustrate the meaning of words. Visual dictionaries are often organized by themes, instead of being an alphabetical list of words. For each theme, an image is labeled with the correct word to identify each component of the item in question. Visual dictionaries can be monolingual
Vocabulary A person's vocabulary is the set of words they are familiar with in a language. A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge topics
Function word Function words are words that have little lexical meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker. Words that are not function words are called content words (or open class words or lexical words): these include nouns, verbs, · Headword · Holonymy Holonymy is a semantic relation. Holonymy defines the relationship between a term denoting the whole and a term denoting a part of, or a member of, the whole. That is, · Hyponymy In linguistics, a hyponym is a word or phrase whose semantic field is included within that of another word, its hypernym . In simpler terms, a hyponym shares a type-of relationship with its hypernym. For example, scarlet, vermilion, carmine, and crimson are all hyponyms of red (their hypernym), which is, in turn, a hyponym of colour · Idiom An idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made. There are estimated to be at least 25,000 idiomatic expressions in American English · International scientific vocabulary International scientific vocabulary comprises scientific and specialized words whose language of origin may or may not be certain, but which are in current use in several modern languages. The name "International Scientific Vocabulary" was first used by Philip Gove in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1961). As noted by · Lemma A lemma in morphology is the canonical form of a lexeme. Lexeme, in this context, refers to the set of all the forms that have the same meaning, and lemma refers to the particular form that is chosen by convention to represent the lexeme. In lexicography, this unit is usually also the citation form or headword by which it is indexed. Lemmas have · Lexeme · Meronymy · Morphology · Synonym · Word
Lexicographic topics
Controlled vocabulary · English lexicology and lexicography · Lexicographic error · Lexicographic information cost · Linguistic prescription · Specialised lexicography
Lexicographic projects
Lexigraf · WordNet
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List of lexicographers · List of online dictionaries
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