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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 of lexicographer in a Sentence
Maureen MacKey, FOXNews.com, 30 Mar. 2025
Esme was the motherless daughter of one of the lexicographers, and spent her youth sitting under the table in the Scriptorium while words were sorted and accepted or discarded.
—The Know, The Denver Post, 2 Mar. 2025
But popularity isn’t the only factor lexicographers consider when determining the word of the year.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Nov. 2024
Written by a career lexicographer with an infectious love of the English language, this ode to the dictionary is full of fun facts for linguistics lovers, as well as intimate stories that nerds of all stripes can enjoy.
—The Week Us, theweek, 16 Apr. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Lexicographer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lexicographer. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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lexicographer
noun
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