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.