Catalogue

How to spell catalogue

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce catalogue

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does catalogue mean?

1. nounA complete, often printed or published, list of items arranged in order.
2. verbTo record or arrange items systematically in a list.

Catalogue in a sentence

• noun

  The museum printed a glossy catalogue of every painting in the exhibition.

• verb

  The archivist will catalogue each document before it goes into storage.

• noun

  She ordered three dresses straight from the autumn catalogue.

• verb

  Volunteers helped catalogue every fossil in the new collection.

Where does catalogue come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek katalogos, which meant a register or a complete list, formed from the prefix kata, meaning 'down' or 'thoroughly', and the verb legein, meaning 'to count, gather, or say'. The literal sense was therefore something written down in full, item by item. The word passed into Latin as catalogus and then into late Middle English by way of the Old French catalogue around the 1400s. English kept the full French-flavoured ending, which is exactly where the spelling trap lives: the silent '-ue' tail that American writers often drop to give 'catalog'. The same legein root sits behind a whole family of '-logue' and '-logy' words, such as 'dialogue' and 'monologue', and noticing that shared ending is a reliable way to remember why catalogue carries its extra letters.

How the word is built

• cata- (from Greek kata: down, completely)
• -logue (from Greek legein: to count, gather, say)
• -ue (French/English spelling tail)

British and American spelling

Catalogue is the British spelling. American English spells it catalog.