Lexical Item

• CURIE: gmeow:LexicalItem
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/LexicalItem
• Category: class
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/lexicon
• Box roles: TBox role (What is this?)

The abstract lexical or constructional object: a word, morpheme, phrase, idiom, symbol, sign, or construction. Carries no surface form itself; forms are linked via gmeow:hasLexicalForm. Aligns to OntoLex LexicalEntry by reference, but is broader than names (which are modeled in the names module as Appellation).

Structure

Subclass of: gmeow:InformationObject

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:LexicalItem as a specialized kind of gmeow:InformationObject. Add statement metadata or a standpoint when the assertion needs provenance, confidence, or vantage.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Word Etymology

• Source: slices/extensions/lexicon/examples/word-etymology.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-extensions-lexicon-examples-word-etymology

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Blackcat Informatics® Inc. <paudley@blackcatinformatics.ca>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
#
# Worked example: a word, its forms, and its etymology . A gmeow:LexicalItem
# is a lexeme in a language; its written/spoken/signed surface strings are
# separate gmeow:LexicalForms (gmeow:hasLexicalForm), so the same lexeme can carry
# many forms across scripts and registers. A gmeow:EtymologicalDerivation reifies
# WHERE a word came from — source → target with a gmeow:derivationKind
# (inheritance / borrowing / calque / sound-change …) — so "English 'ontology'
# was BORROWED from Greek" is a first-class, typed claim, not a free-text note.
@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/lexicon/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .

# --- The English lexeme and its written form.
ex:ontology a gmeow:LexicalItem ;
    gmeow:lexicalItemLanguage gmeow:langEnglish ;
    gmeow:hasLexicalForm      ex:ontologyForm .

Common Companion Terms

gmeow:InformationObject

Projects To

External Equivalences

Equivalent or closely aligned targets: ontolex, wd

Linkages

Generated from the canonical mapping DSL. SSSOM files are the generated public interchange form for term equivalences.

Term Equivalences

Projection Coverage

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use for the abstract word, morpheme, phrase, idiom, symbol, sign, or construction itself — the lexical entry that carries no surface string but is realized by one or more forms.

Avoid when

• Avoid for a concrete surface form (that is gmeow:LexicalForm) and for a proper-name appellation (use the names slice's Appellation, which is the specialized onomastic construct).

How to use

• Mint the item, fix its language with gmeow:lexicalItemLanguage, and attach concrete forms with gmeow:hasLexicalForm; model translation equivalents as separate items linked rather than as one polyglot item.

Examples

• ex:wordWater a gmeow:LexicalItem; gmeow:lexicalItemLanguage ex:english; gmeow:hasLexicalForm ex:waterWritten.