cartography
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cartography
Explanation
Have you ever tried to draw a map of your neighborhood? If you’re drawing your map to scale, taking into account every little hill and valley, you can appreciate the challenge of cartography, the science of making maps. You may think cartography has gone the way of the dodo bird, now that we’ve got Google maps and GPS devices. You don’t have to draw maps by hand anymore, but you still need cartography skills to turn digital representations into something people can use with ease. While the word cartography dates only from the mid-19th century, maps were around for a long, long time before that. Cartography comes from the French carte, “map,” and -graphie, “writing.”
Vocabulary lists containing cartography
Write On!: Graph and Gram
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Human Geography - Middle School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Human Geography - High School
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Its main purpose was to help European sailors navigate the oceans, as cartography Professor James Cheshire at University London College explained.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Each year, she sits on the jury for a junior cartography competition organized in several French high schools.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
Although not the oldest portolan in existence, it is “an important data point in understanding the evolution of European cartography of the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent waters,” Pflederer said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2023
Leanne Abraham is a graphics editor at The Times with a focus on cartography and data visualization.
From New York Times ● Sep. 3, 2023
Here, geometry, perspective painting and cartography merge into one.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
