semasiology

noun

The science of the development and connections of the meanings of words; the department of significance in philology.

noun

The science of meanings or sense development (of words); the explanation of the development and changes of the meanings of words; — more commonly referred to as semantics.

noun

A discipline within linguistics concerned with the meaning of a word independent of its phonetic expression.

noun

the branch of semantics that studies the cognitive aspects of meaning