Editing Dictionary (section)

{{short description|Collection of words and their meanings}}
{{Other uses}}{{For|Wikipedia's guideline|Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a dictionary|Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary}}
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{{Use Oxford spelling|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
[[File:Woerterbuchstapel Langenscheidt.jpg|thumb|[[Langenscheidt]] dictionaries in various languages]]
[[File:Latin dictionary.jpg|thumb|A multi-volume Latin dictionary by [[Egidio Forcellini]]]]
[[File:Compact OED ahoy2 (cropped).png|thumb|Dictionary definition entries]]

A '''dictionary''' is a listing of [[lexeme]]s from the [[lexicon]] of one or more specific [[language]]s, often arranged [[Alphabetical order|alphabetically]] (or by [[Semitic root|consonantal root]] for [[Semitic languages]] or [[radical-and-stroke sorting|radical and stroke]] for [[Logogram|logographic]] languages), which may include information on [[definition]]s, usage, [[etymologies]], [[pronunciation]]s, [[Bilingual dictionary|translation]], etc.<ref name = Web1>Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, 2002</ref><ref name="thought">{{cite web |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-dictionary-1690450 |title=The Features, Functions, and Limitations of Dictionaries |last=Nordquist |first=Richard |date=9 August 2019 |website=ThoughtCo |access-date=13 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526182451/https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-dictionary-1690450 |archive-date=26 May 2022}}</ref><ref name="britannica">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/summary/dictionary |title=Dictionary |website=Britannica |access-date=13 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708010534/https://www.britannica.com/summary/dictionary |archive-date=8 July 2022}}</ref> It is a [[Lexicography|lexicographical]] reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.<ref>{{Cite journal |author = Nielsen, Sandro |year = 2008 |title = The Effect of Lexicographical Information Costs on Dictionary Naming and Use | journal = Lexikos |volume = 18 |issn= 1684-4904 |pages = 170–189}}</ref>

A broad distinction is made between general and [[specialized dictionaries]]. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a comprehensive range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether [[lexicology]] and [[terminology]] are two different fields of study.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} In theory, general dictionaries are supposed{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} to be [[Semasiology|semasiological]], mapping word to [[definition]], while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be [[Onomasiology|onomasiological]], first identifying [[concept]]s and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types.<ref name="Sterkenburg2003">A Practical Guide to Lexicography, Sterkenburg 2003, pp. 155–157</ref> There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance [[bilingual dictionary|bilingual (translation) dictionaries]], dictionaries of [[synonym]]s ([[thesaurus|thesauri]]), and [[rhyming]] dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose [[monolingual dictionary]].<ref name=Sintro>A Practical Guide to Lexicography, Sterkenburg 2003, pp. 3–4</ref>

There is also a contrast between [[Prescription and description|''prescriptive'' or ''descriptive'']] dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.<ref>A Practical Guide to Lexicography, Sterkenburg 2003, p. 7</ref>

The first recorded dictionaries date back to [[Sumer]]ian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are [[Chinese dictionary|Chinese dictionaries]] {{circa|3rd century BCE}}. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was ''[[Table Alphabeticall|A Table Alphabeticall]]'', written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called [[lexicography]], and largely initiated by [[Ladislav Zgusta]].<ref name=Sintro/> The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing lack of method and critical self-reflection".<ref name="Hartmann2003">{{cite book|author=R. R. K. Hartmann|title=Lexicography: Dictionaries, compilers, critics, and users|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLlhyvpg7KoC&pg=PA21|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-25366-6|page=21}}</ref>