From Latin 'vocabulum' (a word), from 'vocare' (to call) — a collection of 'callings.'
The body of words used in a particular language or known to an individual person.
From Medieval Latin 'vocābulārium' (a list of words, a glossary), from Latin 'vocābulum' (a word, a name, a designation, an appellation), from 'vocāre' (to call, to name, to summon), from 'vōx' (genitive 'vōcis,' voice, sound, utterance), from PIE *wekʷ- (to speak, to say, to utter). The same PIE root generated an enormous family: 'voice,' 'vocal,' 'vocation' (a calling — one's divinely appointed work), 'invoke' (to call upon), 'provoke' (to call forth), 'revoke' (to call back), 'advocate' (one called to another's side), 'equivocal' (of equal voice — ambiguous), and 'vowel' (from 'vocālis littera,' a voiced letter). In Greek, the same
A 'vocabulary' is a collection of 'callings' — each word is a name we call something by. The same Latin root 'vocāre' (to call) hides inside 'vocation' (a calling in life), 'invoke' (to call upon), 'provoke' (to call forth), 'revoke' (to call back), 'advocate' (one called to your side), and even 'vowel' (from Latin 'vōcālis littera,' a 'voiced letter'). An average adult's active English vocabulary is estimated at 20,000-35,000 words, but