mental lexicon

noun

1. the store of words in a person's mind

Example Sentences

They exist only in your mental lexicon, and their meaning is determined by the meaning assigned by this lexicon.

From Washington Post

Of course I knew that if a dangerous person came to the school, I was to stay quiet and listen to my teacher, but nowhere in my mental lexicon did the word ‘shooter’ exist.

From MSNBC

Only through reading—not listening to talk—can a youngster expand his or her mental lexicon enough to allow truly fluid reading, with its rapid line-by-line scanning and its effortless absorption of meaning.

From Salon