Лексикология английского языка

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ТРАНСПОРТА 

РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ 

 

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ 

ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО 

ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ 

«РОССИЙСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ТРАНСПОРТА  

________________________________________________ 

Академия базовой подготовки 

 

Кафедра «Русский и иностранные языки» 

 

Н. Д. Овчинникова 

Е. В. Сачкова  

 
 

Лексикология английского языка 

 
 

Учебник 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

МОСКВА - 2021 

 
 

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ТРАНСПОРТА 

РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ 

 

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ 

ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО 

ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ 

«РОССИЙСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ТРАНСПОРТА» 

________________________________________________ 

Академия базовой подготовки 

 

Кафедра «Русский и иностранные языки» 

 

Н. Д. Овчинникова 

Е. В. Сачкова  

 
 

Лексикология английского языка 

 
 

Учебник 

 
 
 
 

для студентов специальности 

45.03.02 «Лингвистика. Перевод и переводоведение»  

 
 
 
 
 

МОСКВА - 2021 

УДК 42 
О 35 
 
       Овчинникова 
Н.Д., 
Сачкова 
Е.В. 
Лексикология 

английского языка: Учебник. – М.: РУТ (МИИТ), 2021.  
– 123 с. 

 
Учебник содержит тезисно изложенный теоретический 

материал по курсу «Лексикология английского языка» и включает 
разделы: предмет и задачи курса, этимологический состав 
словарного состава английского языка, словообразование, 
семантология, фразеология, синонимия, антонимия и омонимия 
современного английского языка.  
 
 
Рецензенты: 

Никанорова Н. А. – старший преподаватель кафедры 

«Международные отношения и геополитика транспорта» 
РУТ (МИИТ) 

Боговская И. В. – кандидат педагогических наук, 

доцент 
кафедры 
«Международные 
отношения 
и 

геополитика транспорта»», Институт иностранных языков, 
ГАОУ ВО МГПУ 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

© РУТ (МИИТ), 2021 

CONTENTS 

Preface ................................................................................................. 4 

Lexicology as a branch of linguistics .................................................. 5 

A word as the basic unit of lexicology .............................................. 10 

English Etymology ............................................................................ 17 

Word-building in Modern English .................................................... 44 

Lexical Meaning as a Linguistic Category ........................................ 64 

Polysemy as a Means of Secondary Nomination .............................. 78 

Types of Modern English Homonymy .............................................. 84 

Problems of English Synonyms and Antonyms ................................ 93 

Phraseology ..................................................................................... 107 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................... 119 

 

 

 

 
 

Preface 

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any 

other name would smell as sweet”. William Shakespeare was not 

the first who dwells upon the meaning of name or word. So 

would Romeo, “were he not Romeo call'd, retain that dear 

perfection which he owes without that title”?1 That is the 

question.2 

So in this book we as many other scholars make an 

attempt to answer this question as well as to give an overview of 

other key issues of English lexicology such as polysemy and 

homonymy, synonyms and antonyms.  

The book also highlights the problems of the etymology 

of the English word stock, word-building and phraseology. 

 The given book is intended for the students who major 

in Linguistics, particularly in the English linguistics, and for all 

students who study the English language and are eager to master 

it to the full.  

 

1 W. Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet”  
2 W. Shakespeare “Hamlet” 

Lexicology as a branch of linguistics 

1. The subject of lexicological investigation 

2. Types of vocabulary units 

3. The position of lexicology in the language hierarchy. Links 

with other linguistic sciences 

4. Branches of lexicology 

 

1. 

   
 Linguistics in its totality deals with the study of human 

language as the subject of its investigation. Language is an 

extremely complicated phenomenon with a lot of properties and 

characteristics. For the purpose of thorough examination, it is 

decomposed into relatively independent spheres to be studied by 

phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicology, history of the 

language, stylistics, etc. 

The term ‘lexicology’ is derived from 2 Greek roots (lexis 

- word, logos - learning). 

The vocabulary of a language, the word-stock is studied 

by lexicology whose main task is to present the vocabulary as a 

system. 

The term 'system' denotes a whole made up of 

interdependent elements of the same nature which are related in 

certain specific ways.  Unlike grammar and phonetics which are 

closed systems vocabulary is an open one which is subjects to 

constant change in the number and properties of units. This 

peculiarity of vocabulary makes some scholars doubt its 

systematic character. They look upon it as chaotic. To this 

however there is a strong objection: there is an objective 

connection between words and real objects they nominate, i.e., 

the systematic character of objective reality is bemirrored in the 

system of language. So, vocabulary can be said to be a loose 

system, not a mathematically organized collection of elements 

which are interdependent and derive then significance from the 

system as a whole. 

2. 

    
The lexical units are two-facet elements possessing form 

and meaning. These are morphemes, words and set-expressions. 

    
Morphemes - parts of words into which words may be 

analyzed and set-expressions - groups of words with completely 

or partially transferred meanings into which words may be 

combined. 

The word is the association of a particular meaning with 

a particular group of sounds, capable of a particular grammatical 

employment, characterized by a positional mobility and 

indivisibility, capable of functioning alone. 

In Russian linguistics the word is taken for the basic 

vocabulary unit. 

3. 

    
Lexicology is a branch of linguistics. Neither linguistic 

theory, nor linguistic practice can do without it. The word is 

studied in several branches of linguistics and not in lexicology 

only and the latter, in its turn, is closely connected with general 

linguistics, history of the language, phonetics, stylistics. 

grammar, etc. 

Lexicology and phonetics:  phonemes participate in 

signification: they serve to distinguish b/w meanings:  

e.g., set – sat, did – deed. 

Lexicology and grammar: on the one hand, words belong 

to some part of speech and have some lexico-grammatical 

characteristics of the word class to which they belong. On the 

other hand, the grammatical form and function of the word affect 

its lexical meaning: 

e.g., to read – read – reading. 

Lexicology and stylistics:  stylistics studies the problems 

of meaning, connotations, synonymy, functional styles and other 

issues. 

4. 

Lexicology includes such branches as: 

1.  general lexicology:  is occupied with the general study 

of words and vocabulary, irrespective of the specific features of 

any particular 1anguage. 

2. special lexicology: deals with the description of the 

characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of a given 1-ge. 

  
3. contrastive lexicology: compares and describes the 

vocabularies of different languages. 

  
4. historical lexicology or etymology: studies the 

evolution of vocabulary. 

5. descriptive lexicology: describes morphological and 

semantic structures of a word at a given stage of its development. 

6. sociolinguistics:  studies relations between the way the 

1anguage works and develops, on the one hand, and the facts of 

social life, on the other. 

7. semaciology: specializes in the semantic studies of a 

word. 

8. phraseology: specializes in word-groups characterized 

by stability of structure and transferred meaning. 

 
 

A word as the basic unit of lexicology 

    1.   The definition of a word and its basic characteristics 

    2.   The theory of a word 

    3.   The morphemic structure of a word. 

1. 

Tо give the definition of a word is one of the most 

difficult tasks in linguistics, because the simplest word has many 

different aspects. It has a sound form being a certain arrangement 

of phonemes; it has its morphological structure being a certain 

arrangement of morphemes; when used in actual speech it may 

occur in different word forms, have different syntactic functions 

and signal various meanings. 

In linguistics a word has been defined syntactically, 

semantically, phonologically and by combining different 

approaches. 

   
 e.g., It has been syntactically defined as "the minimum 

sentence" by H. Sweet and much later by Bloomfield as "the 

minimum free form". 

A word should possess some characteristics which 

distinguish it from other 1anguage units: