Vocabullary

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language.

Vocabulary is commonly defined as "all the words known and used by a particular person". Knowing a word, however, is not as simple as merely being able to recognize or use it. There are several aspects of word knowledge which are used to measure word knowledge.

The noun vocabulary (or vocab for short) refers to the words used in a language.

The word vocabulary can have at least three different meanings:

1. all of the words in a language
   New words are constantly being added to the vocabulary of English.
   
   
2. the words used in a particular context
   If you want to do an MBA you need to improve your business vocabulary.
   My neighbour is a doctor so he has an extensive medical vocabulary.
   I've just bought a book on the vocabulary of slang.
   
   
3. the words an individual person knows
   The teacher said that my vocabulary is good.

When learning a foreign language, our individual vocabulary in that language is one of the most important micro-skills to develop. Of course, all micro-skills like grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation are important. But it is far more difficult to communicate with no vocabulary than with no grammar.