Lexeme

/ˈlɛkˌsiːm/

Synonyms for "lexeme" (84 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (17)

Adjective(5 words)
academic termdutch woordenglish wordgerman verbgerman wort
Noun(7 words)
base formcasinoearth science termsfrench verbegame termhaickheadword

Strong matches (25)

Noun(13 words)
headwordsicelandic orðitalian notificarelanguage unitlanguage unit conceptlanguage unit examplelanguage unitslemmalexical tokenlexical unitlinguistic unitmathematical termmeaning unit
Adjective(4 words)
icelandic finnaicelandic vaknalexical itemlexical word

Related words (42)

Noun(15 words)
motmusical termold high german wortold norse orðspelling wordstudy vocabulary itemtokensvocabulary itemvocabulary termvocabulary wordword familyword typeword unitwordsyana
Adjective(4 words)
political termpredicative usageswedish molekyltarget keyword

Choosing the right synonym

  • Closest matches in this entry: academic term, antonym, articulation, base form, casino.
  • Sentence evidence is available for lexeme, so synonym choice can be checked against real usage rather than a flat word list.
  • Ranking signals come from derived_reverse, moby, opengloss.

Synonym selection checklist

  • Match the part of speech before comparing meanings.
  • Check whether the synonym changes intensity, formality, or emotional tone.
  • Read the replacement inside the full sentence, not just beside "lexeme".
  • Prefer the clearest word over the most unusual word when writing for speed or comprehension.

When not to replace "lexeme"

Keep "lexeme" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.

If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.

Replacement workflow

1. Preserve meaning

Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "lexeme" intact in the sentence you are editing.

2. Tune tone

Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.

3. Re-read context

Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.

Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.

Final fit check

After choosing a replacement for "lexeme", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.

If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "lexeme" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

5 relation types

More general

3 entries
language unitlinguistic unitsemantic unit

More specific

5 entries
base formdictionary entrydictionary formheadwordword form

Collocations

6 entries
base formdictionary formlexeme frequencylexical itemlinguistic unitword family

Inflections

1 entries

Derivations

2 entries

Translations

54 translations across 45 languages.

Powered by Wiktionary

Arabic

2 entries
  • لِكْسِيم noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • مُفْرَدَة noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Armenian

1 entries
  • բառույթ noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Azerbaijani

1 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Belarusian

2 entries
  • лексе́ма noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • лексэ́ма noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Bulgarian

1 entries
  • лексе́ма noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Catalan

1 entries
  • lexema noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Chinese Mandarin

4 entries
  • 詞 /词 noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • 詞位 /词位 noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • 詞彙單位 /词汇单位 noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • 詞素 /词素 noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Czech

1 entries
  • lexém noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Danish

1 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Dutch

1 entries
  • lexeem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Esperanto

1 entries
  • leksemo noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Estonian

1 entries
  • lekseem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Finnish

1 entries
  • lekseemi noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

French

1 entries
  • lexème noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Galician

1 entries
  • lexema noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Georgian

1 entries
  • ლექსემა noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

German

1 entries
  • Lexem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Greek

1 entries
  • λέξημα noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Hindi

1 entries
  • शब्दिम noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Hungarian

1 entries
  • lexéma noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Icelandic

2 entries
  • flettiorð noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • les noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Ido

1 entries
  • lexemo noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Italian

1 entries
  • lessema noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Japanese

1 entries
  • 語彙素 noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Khmer

1 entries
  • វចនតា noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Korean

1 entries
  • 어휘소 noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Lithuanian

1 entries
  • leksema noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Macedonian

1 entries
  • лексема noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Malay

1 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Malayalam

1 entries
  • കോശിമം noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Norwegian Bokmål

1 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Norwegian Nynorsk

1 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Persian

1 entries
  • تکواژه noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Polish

1 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Portuguese

2 entries
  • lexema noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • semantema noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Romanian

1 entries
  • lexem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Russian

1 entries
  • лексе́ма noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Serbo-Croatian

2 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • лексем noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Slovak

1 entries
  • lexéma noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Slovene

1 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Spanish

1 entries
  • lexema noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Swedish

1 entries
  • lexem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Turkish

2 entries
  • leksem noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)
  • sözlükbirim noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Ukrainian

1 entries
  • лексе́ма noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Vietnamese

1 entries
  • từ vị noun (linguistics: unit of vocabulary, set of different forms of the same lemma)

Sample sentences

4 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

A lexeme is a unit of lexical meaning, which exists regardless of any inflectional endings it may have or the number of words it may contain. Thus, fibrillate, rain cats and dogs, and come in are all lexemes, as are elephant, jog, cholesterol, happiness, put up with, face the music, and hundreds of thousands of other meaningful items in English.

Source: wiktionary

In a typical lexicalist approach (e.g. Koontz-Garboden 2006), the unmarked lexeme is taken as lexically listed, even if its meaning (as it often does) includes templatic entailments, and the derivational morphology is taken to operate on the underived form to yield the derived form. This is the case not only morphologically, but also semantically.

Source: wiktionary

For the second sense, where “word” means “item that should have its own dictionary entry,” lexicographers sometimes use the term “lemma,” but that has other meanings too, so among linguists the term lexeme is now standard, and I’ll use it. For the different forms or shapes that belong to a lexeme we can use the term word-form. ¶ And as a typographical convention, from now on I’ll always put lexeme names in bold italics with a capital letter. So I’ll say there is a lexeme called Pamper [emphasis in original]. It’s the name of a small collection of word-forms with particular spellings – four of them: pamper, pampered, pampering, and pampers. I will always put word-forms (and all the phrases and clauses I mention as examples) in italics.

Source: wiktionary

Near-synonym: token

Source: wiktionary

Common questions

What are the closest synonyms for "lexeme"?

Closest matches include academic term, antonym, articulation, base form, casino.

How should I check whether a synonym fits "lexeme"?

Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.

More for "lexeme"