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• scribe
  scribe

  noun

  a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of printing.
• Scribe
  Scribe

  noun

  Augustin Eugène 1791–1861, French dramatist.

scribe

¹ American  

[skrahyb] / skraɪb /

noun

1. a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of printing.

2. a public clerk or writer, usually one having official status.

3. Also called sopher, sofer.  Judaism. one of the group of Palestinian scholars and teachers of Jewish law and tradition, active from the 5th century b.c. to the 1st century a.d., who transcribed, edited, and interpreted the Bible.

4. a writer or author, especially a journalist.

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verb (used without object)

scribed, scribing

1. to act as a scribe; write.

verb (used with object)

scribed, scribing

1. to write down.

scribe ² American  

[skrahyb] / skraɪb /

verb (used with object)

scribed, scribing

1. to mark or score (wood or the like) with a pointed instrument as a guide to cutting or assembling.

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noun

1. scriber.

Scribe ³ American  

[skreeb] / skrib /

noun

1. Augustin Eugène 1791–1861, French dramatist.

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scribe ¹ British  

/ skraɪb /

noun

1. a person who copies documents, esp a person who made handwritten copies before the invention of printing

2. a clerk or public copyist

3. Old Testament a recognized scholar and teacher of the Jewish Law

4. Judaism a man qualified to write certain documents in accordance with religious requirements

5. an author or journalist: used humorously

6. another name for scriber

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verb

1. to score a line on (a surface) with a pointed instrument, as in metalworking

Scribe ² British  

/ skrib /

noun

1. Augustin Eugène (oɡystɛ̃ øʒɛn). 1791–1861, French author or coauthor of over 350 vaudevilles, comedies, and libretti for light opera

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Other Word Forms

• scribal
  adjective
• unscribal
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of scribe¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin scrība clerk, derivative of scrībere to write

Origin of scribe²

First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps aphetic form of inscribe

Explanation

A scribe is a term for someone employed to make written copies of documents. Before printing was invented, the busy scribes in a village would write copies of all the legal documents. As a noun, scribe has several meanings. It's used as an informal term to refer to journalists. Scribe also refers to a sharply pointed tool used for marking wood or metal to be cut. As a verb, it means "to score a line on something with a pointed instrument." The master craftsmen instructed you to scribe a line on the piece of wood where he pointed, to mark the spot where he wanted it cut.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scribe Scribe scribed scribing

"I will say that the Iranian state media has not been a very good scribe about what's happened in the conflict thus far. So I'm extremely skeptical of this."

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Harp also serves as something of a social media scribe for Trump, posting to his Truth Social account on his behalf.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Or as one scribe put it, the school didn’t want to be dwarfed by “a gigantic breakfast side dish.”

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 12, 2025

Legally, clinicians are entirely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the medical record, meaning they must review and sign off on the notes the scribe creates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

Standing awkwardly, still gripping the hilt of the man’s sword, the scribe tugged harder and the sword pulled slowly free.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Back in California, Scribe is another tech firm that allows companies to automatically create AI user guides.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024

Then we’ll stop by Lady & Larder for a Scribe rosé pinot noir, colorful candles and crackers.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2024

Call it "Get to the Hed," "Bet Your Hed" or "The Hed-less Scribe."

From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2023

Chris has published reviews of digital journals like the Kindle Scribe, the reMarkable tablet and iPads.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2023

He copies for the thousandth time from the old models, Sheridan and Goldsmith, or his new masters, Scribe and d’Ennery.

From The English Stage Being an Account of the Victorian Drama by Augustin Filon

Luke even remembers the name of the first song that he wrote, entitled “Where Am I,” which he scribed after the death of a friend from his church.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 24, 2022

Bill Plaschke’s eloquent elegy about Kobe may be the best column he’s ever scribed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2021

The "apotropaic" marks were scribed into the cave surface as they were thought to keep evil spirits coming from the underworld.

From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2019

Not long ago, I spent a day following Lynden Lee as he scribed at a Massachusetts General Hospital primary-care practice.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018

The lands had to be de scribed, whether plough lands or pasture, wood or waste; the mills and fisheries wore recorded, and each farmer's stock of oxen, cows, sheep, or swine.

From Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II by Charlotte Mary Yonge

Who is taking care of the patients all those scribing doctors aren’t seeing?

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018

I would get John Bradley to start scribing out the entire books that George R.R.

From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2017

Two decades after that first visit, Magdalen’s 15th-century cloisters, decorated with coats of arms and gargoyles, looked every bit as inspiring as I remembered, though deserted, the scholars no doubt scribing upstairs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2016

The important thing is that the Supreme Court has now closed the circle it was scribing with Bilski and Mayo vs.

From Forbes ● Jun. 19, 2014

I said incredulously, thinking of the pale, quiet students who worked in the Archives, sorting, scribing, and fetching books.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Related Words

• author
• journalist
• writer