Scribe

How to spell scribe

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce scribe

What does scribe mean?

1. nounA person who copies out documents or, historically, made handwritten copies of texts before printing.
2. verbTo mark a line on wood, metal, or another surface with a pointed tool as a cutting or fitting guide.

Scribe in a sentence

• noun

  The medieval scribe spent years copying a single illuminated manuscript.

• verb

  Use a sharp awl to scribe a straight guide line along the timber.

• noun

  Each meeting needs a scribe to record exactly what was decided.

• verb

  Carpenters often scribe a panel so it fits snugly against an uneven wall.

Where does scribe come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Scribe comes from the Latin scriba, meaning a clerk or official writer, which was formed from the verb scribere, 'to write'. The literal force of scribere was something like 'to scratch or incise marks', a reminder that early writing meant cutting letters into wax or stone. The word entered English in the 1300s, often referring to the professional copyists who reproduced books and legal documents by hand before printing existed. The same scrib- root spreads through a large family of English words, including describe, prescribe, manuscript, and inscription, so anyone who can spell those can trust the same spelling here. The silent final -e is the usual English marker that keeps the long 'i' sound, distinguishing scribe from a short clipped reading.

How the word is built

• scrib- (from Latin scribere: to write)
• silent -e