LexicalEntry

LexicalEntry is a unit in a dictionary or lexical database that describes a single lemma or headword. It serves as the basic information packet used by speakers, learners, editors, and computational systems to understand a word’s form, meaning, and use.

Typically, a LexicalEntry starts with the headword, its part of speech, and its pronunciation, possibly in phonetic script. It may also list inflectional or derivational information and alternative spellings. The core of a LexicalEntry is its senses or meanings. Each sense provides a definition or gloss, one or more example sentences, and notes on usage, register, or regional variation. Senses may be linked to semantic relations such as synonyms, antonyms, or broader concepts, and to related entries for cognates or derived forms. Many entries also include etymology, noting the word’s origin, language ancestry, and historical development.

Entries may also cover multiword expressions, phrasal forms, or inflected variants. In bilingual or multilingual dictionaries, a LexicalEntry may include translations or equivalents in other languages and cross-linguistic information.

In computational lexicons and NLP resources, LexicalEntry data is structured to support tasks such as part-of-speech tagging, sense disambiguation, and semantic analysis. Common formats encode LexicalEntry with fields for lemma, part of speech, senses, examples, etymology, and cross-references, sometimes following standards such as TEI or Lexical Databases.

As a concept, LexicalEntry is central to lexicography, lexicology, and natural language processing.