This chapter examines the theory of norms and exploitations in relation to word meaning, anthropology, and the philosophy of language, looking in particular at the work of Aristotle, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Hilary Putnam, and H. P. Grice, as well as that of Bronisław Malinowski, Eleanor Rosch, and Michael Tomasello. It also discusses the lexicon and theories of language, lexical semantics, the attempt by thinkers such as John Wilkins and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz to make language precise during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, and semantic primitives in preference semantics.