The name of someone who puts together words to be entered into a dictionary is known as a lexicographer.

The name of someone who puts together words to be entered into a dictionary is known as a lexicographer.

Have you ever wondered how a word gets into the dictionary?

Does one person decide or does it have to go through a number of people before being granted permission to be published?

In this article, we will be looking at how a word gets into the dictionary.

The art or craft of compiling, writing, and editing dictionaries is known as practical lexicography. Theoretical lexicography is the scholarly discipline of analyzing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic, and paradigmatic relationships within a language's vocabulary, developing theories of dictionary components and structures linking the data in dictionaries, the user needs for information in specific types of scenarios, and how a user might best access the data incorporated in printed and electronic dictionaries. This is sometimes referred to as 'metalexicography'.

There is some debate about the distinction between lexicology and lexicography. Some people use the term "lexicology" as a synonym for theoretical lexicography, while others use it to refer to a branch of linguistics concerned with the inventory of words in a specific language.

A lexicographer is someone interested in lexicography. General lexicography is concerned with the creation, compilation, use, and evaluation of general dictionaries, that is, dictionaries that describe the language in common use. This type of dictionary is commonly referred to as a general dictionary or LGP dictionary (Language for General Purpose). Specialized lexicography is concerned with the creation, compilation, use, and assessment of specialized dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries that are inclined towards a (relatively confined) set of linguistic and factual elements of one or more specialist subject fields, e.g. legal lexicography.