Philological terminology represents a significant segment of a modern student‘s active vocabulary. The issue of terminology assimilation emerges in connection with quantitative limits, i.e. how many terms ought the student know at a certain schooling stage, a list of such terms (which implies a decision about which terms are unavoidable in a learning context), as well as how such terms ought to be reflected in classroom strategies, which in turn are anticipated by the school textbook offer. The concept of didactic definition – a minimal and reduced one, compared with lexicographic or encyclopaedical definition – is explored in modern textbooks and yet seems rather insufficient, lacking a relevant example. Philological terminology ought to be explored through appropriate tasks, aiming for subsequent comprehension and application.