Lexical semantics

Lexical semantics is a big and fancy word that means we're talking about the meanings of words.

When you hear or read a word like "dog," you probably think of a furry, four-legged animal that barks and wags its tail. That's because the word "dog" has a certain meaning that we all agree on. But how do we know what the meaning of a word is?

Well, one way is to look it up in a dictionary. The dictionary tells us what a word means, but it doesn't tell us everything about it. Sometimes a word can have different meanings depending on how it's used. For example, the word "bank" can mean a place where you keep your money, or it can mean the side of a river.

Lexical semantics is the study of how words have meaning, and how we use those meanings to communicate with each other. It's like a big puzzle, trying to figure out how all the little pieces fit together to make up the story of language.

So, next time you hear a new word or are trying to understand what someone is saying, remember that there are lots of clues you can use to figure out what they mean. Just like fitting together a puzzle, the pieces will come together to help you understand the bigger picture.