Lexicographer is a noun referring to an author or editor of a dictionary. The word's roots are in the Greek "lexikon" (dictionary) and "graphos" (writer).
Lexicógrafo es un sustantivo que se refiere al autor o editor de un diccionario. La palabra tiene sus raíces en el griego "lexikon" (diccionario) y "graphos" (escritor).
| Word | lexicographer |
|---|---|
| Date | March 10, 2018 |
| Type | noun |
| Syllables | lek-suh-KAH-gruh-fer |
| Etymology | Today, we're looking at a word that is dear to our hearts: lexicographer. The ancient Greeks were some of the earliest makers of dictionaries; they used them mainly to catalog obsolete terms from their rich literary past. To create a word for writers of dictionaries, the Greeks sensibly attached the suffix -graphos, meaning "writer," to lexikon, meaning "dictionary," to form lexikographos, the direct ancestor of the English word lexicographer. Lexikon, which itself descends from Greek lexis (meaning "word" or "speech"), also gave us lexicon, which can mean either "dictionary" or "the vocabulary of a language, speaker, or subject." |
| Examples | Noah Webster believed that a lexicographer's work was to document a language as it is used, without any judgment or subjective influence. "Google celebrated the life of Samuel Johnson on Monday with an animated Doodle defining the word 'lexicographer.' Monday would have marked Johnson's 308th birthday. He was well known as a lexicographer himself, as well as a poet, essayist, critic and biographer." — Katie Collins, CNET.com, 18 Sept. 2017 |
| Definition | : an author or editor of a dictionary |
Tags: wordoftheday::noun
Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.
Next card: Meander winding place wandering ramble river meandered march
Previous card: Latin scilicet scire permitted words anglo-french organization's march
Up to card list: Word of the Day