cartographer

American  

[kahr-tog-ruh-fer] / kɑrˈtɒg rə fər /

noun

1. a person engaged in cartography, or the production of maps.

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Etymology

Origin of cartographer

First recorded in 1840–50; equivalent to cart(e) ( def. ) + -o- ( def. ) + -graph ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

Unless you’re the one guy in America who actually asks for directions, you’ve probably broken down and used a map at some point in your life. The cartographer is the person you should thank for getting you un-lost — the mapmaker. A cartographer is a person who creates maps, whether they’re of the world, the local bus routes, or buried pirate treasure. It comes to us from the Latin word charta-, which means “tablet or leaf of paper,” and the Greek word graphein, meaning to write or draw. These days, a cartographer doesn’t have to work on paper––it's all computers, making electronic maps as part of GPS software. Technically, a cartographer can make charts, too.

Example Sentences

Camille Bressange has been a graphics reporter and cartographer for The Wall Street Journal since 2022.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026

While new to this particular series, Newton is a skilled cartographer of comedy-horror terrain as the star of “Freaky,” “Lisa Frankenstein,” and the directors’ previous film, “Abigail.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

Medical diagnostics expert, doctor's assistant, and cartographer are all fair titles for an artificial intelligence model developed by researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

From Science Daily • Mar. 4, 2024

Cosmic cartographer Brent Tully was inspecting his team’s latest high-precision maps of the positions and motions of 56,000 galaxies in the local universe when he noticed a colossal ringlike structure.

From Scientific American • Sep. 27, 2023

Later, Lyra, who was a cartographer, would plot the course and calculate the distance.

From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple

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