lexeme (n.)

A term used by some LINGUISTS to refer to the minimal DISTINCTIVE UNIT in the SEMANTIC SYSTEM of a LANGUAGE. Its original motivation was to reduce the AMBIGUITY of the term WORD, which applied to orthographic/ PHONOLOGICAL, GRAMMATICAL and LEXICAL LEVELS, and to devise a more appropriate term for use in the context of discussing a language’s vocabulary. The lexeme is thus postulated as the abstract unit underlying such sets of grammatical VARIANTS as walk, walks, walking, walked, or big, bigger, biggest. IDIOMATIC phrases, by this definition, are also considered lexemic (e.g. kick the bucket (= ‘die’)). Lexemes are the units which are conventionally listed in dictionaries as separate entries.