Etymology

lexicography

lex·i·co·gra·phy
L1E1X8I1C3O1G2R1A1P3H4Y4

Today it means: The art or craft of compiling, writing, and editing dictionaries. Full definition →

Ancient Greek γραφή (graphḗ) ← Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō ← Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*leǵ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*léǵ-e-ti
  3. Proto-Hellenic*légō
  4. Ancient Greekλέγω (légō)
  5. Ancient Greekλέξῐς (léxĭs)
  6. Ancient Greekλεξῐκός (lexĭkós)
  7. Englishlexico-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*gerbʰ-
  9. Proto-Hellenic*grə́pʰō
  10. Ancient Greekγρᾰ́φω (grắphō)
  11. Ancient Greekγραφή (graphḗ)
  12. English todaylexicography

From lexico- (prefix meaning ‘speech; words’) + -graphy (suffix meaning ‘something written about a specified subject’).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.