Read the given passage and answer the four questions that follow:-
This is a story from long ago, when the last remaining traces of the British still lurked in their old haunts among the pristine Himalayan hills of Darjeeling. These were the early fifties, in other words.
I would spend entire days at a small, dusty bookshop with a faded, green sign over it- a sign painted with gold letters that said: "Mr Mun-Chee's Books." The paint was chipped at many places; you could barely see the second 's'. The shabby old shop was located in a cul-de-sac, a few hundred meters away from my own home. But inside, it was another world. On the floor stood staggering, towering piles of books, yellowed and aged, and the shelves lining all the walls were crammed with journals, lexicons and biographies, dramas, each laboriously cataloged and meticulously arranged. Mr Mun-Chee dealt mostly in antique books; first editions of books, long forgotten, books one hardly ever encountered anymore. There were sixteen editions of Jane Eyre, twenty-two of The Pickwick Papers, and fifty of The Pilgrim's Progress. It was not famous, but it was unique; customers barely ever walked in, as it was so hidden away in a run-down neighborhood. Tabby, the black Tom, my only possession, and I, were only disturbed five times that we spent there. And we spent nearly an entire year at the shop.
The shop was my sanctuary. After the daily ordeal of school, I invariably called out to Tabby and set out for the shop, to read, read, read, with Tabby curled up around my legs.
The word 'Lexicon' means:----
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → dictionary
- A lexicon is a dictionary, especially one of an old language, or the whole vocabulary of a language or subject. In the passage the shelves are crammed with "journals, lexicons and biographies", that is, with books of reference among others.
Example: The scholar kept a Greek lexicon on his desk. - A dictionary is a book that lists the words of a language with their meanings, which is what a lexicon is, so the two mean the same.
Example: Look up the word in a dictionary.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: semantics — Incorrect. Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It is a branch of study, not a book of words.
Example: In semantics we learn how words get their meanings.
Option 2: syntax — Incorrect. Syntax is the way words are arranged to form sentences. It is grammar, not a word list.
Example: The syntax of Hindi puts the verb at the end.
Option 4: phonetics — Incorrect. Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. It does not mean a collection of words.
Example: Phonetics helps actors improve their pronunciation.
| Also asked in CUET (UG): phonetics – 11-05-2026 Slot 1 |