Basic-level categorization: The idea that categories are not merely organized in a hierarchy from the most general to most specific, but are also organized so that the categories that are cognitively basic are ‘in the middle’ of a general-to-specific hierarchy. Generalization proceeds ‘upward’ from the basic level and specialization proceeds ‘downward’.
- Lakoff (1987), a pag.13

The studies of basic-level categorization suggest that our experience is preconceptually structured at that level. We have general capacities for dealing with part-whole structure in real world objects via gestalt perception, motor movement and the formation of rich mental images. These impose a preconceptual structure on our experience. Our basic-level concepts correspond to that preconceptual structure and are understood directly in terms of it. Basic-level concept are much more richly structured than kinesthetic image-schemas, which have only the grossest outlines of structure. Gestalts for general overall shapes (e.g., the shape of an elephant or a giraffe or a rose) are relatively rich in structure. Still, they occur preconceptually as gestalts, and although one can identify internal structure in them, the wholes seem to be psychologically more basic than the parts. In short, the idea that all internal structure is of a building block sort, with primitives and principles of combination, does not seem to work at the basic level of human experience. At this level, ‘basic’ does not mean ‘primitive’; that is, basic-level concepts are not atomic building blocks without internal structure. The basic level is an intermediate level; it is neither the highest nor the lowest level of conceptual organization.
- Lakoff (1987), a pag.269-270