lextendiment
Lextendiment is a linguistic concept that describes the process by which a lexeme expands its semantic and syntactic range over time. The term, a blend of lexicon and extension, is used in contemporary discussions of lexical change to capture how words gain new meanings or grammatical functions beyond their original use. It is not yet standardized in major dictionaries, but it appears in descriptive accounts of language evolution and in computational lexicography as a way to model evolving lexemes.
Mechanisms of lextendiment include semantic broadening, where a word acquires additional senses; metaphorical or metonymic extension,
Commonly cited examples illustrate the idea without prescribing a fixed history. For instance, “mouse” extended from
Applications of lextendiment include informing lexical resource modeling for natural language processing, guiding lexicography, and aiding
See also: semantic shift, semantic broadening, functional shift, polysemy, lexical evolution.