Surprisingly enough, the term lexicolog y is not to be found in most mediumsized dictionaries and in various handbooks (e.g. LYONS 1977) and English grammars (with the exception of the Longma n Dictionar y of Contemporar y Englis h (LDCE) 21987 and Quirk et al. 1985). Only lexicography , explained as 'dictionary-making* or 'the writing and making of dictionaries', is usually mentioned. Apparently this situation is now changing. Lexicolog y might be defined as the study of the lexico n or lexis (specified as the vocabulary or total stock of words of a language).