  How many words are needed to define all the words in a dictionary?
Graph-theoretic analysis reveals that about 10% of a dictionary is a unique
Kernel of words that define one another and all the rest, but this is not the
smallest such subset. The Kernel consists of one huge strongly connected
component (SCC), about half its size, the Core, surrounded by many small SCCs,
the Satellites. Core words can define one another but not the rest of the
dictionary. The Kernel also contains many overlapping Minimal Grounding Sets
(MGSs), each about the same size as the Core, each part-Core, part-Satellite.
MGS words can define all the rest of the dictionary. They are learned earlier,
more concrete and more frequent than the rest of the dictionary. Satellite
words, not correlated with age or frequency, are less concrete (more abstract)
words that are also needed for full lexical power.
