lex

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a law or statute, especially one expressed by its Latin title or discussed in Roman law

   The jurist cited the lex as the governing rule in the dispute.

2. 2
   verb

   to perform lexical analysis on text or source code, converting characters into tokens

   The compiler must lex the source before it can parse the program.

3. 3
   noun

   a particular inflected form of a word, as contrasted with its lexeme

   The database stores each lex separately while linking it to a common lexeme.

The legal noun is borrowed directly from Latin lex, 'law.' The computing verb is a twentieth-century shortening of lexical analysis, ultimately from Greek lexis, 'word or speech.' The linguistic noun likewise belongs to the lexeme family.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images