coauthor

American  

[koh-aw-ther, koh-aw-] / koʊˈɔ θər, ˈkoʊˌɔ- /

noun

1. one of two or more joint authors.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to write in joint authorship.

coauthor British  

/ kəʊˈɔːθə /

noun

1. a person who shares the writing of a book, article, etc, with another

---

verb

1. (tr) to be the joint author of (a book, article, etc)

Etymology

Origin of coauthor

First recorded in 1860–65; co- + author

Explanation

A coauthor is someone who works with another person to write something. If three people take turns writing chapters of a novel, each of them can call herself a coauthor. You can spell the noun coauthor with or without a hyphen — co-author is also correct. Whenever it takes more than one person to write a book, the book can be said to have coauthors. And if you collaborate with a friend on a hand-written magazine, you are one of its coauthors. The word comes from author, or writer, and the prefix co, which means "together" or "mutually."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

coauthor

Carly Phillips, a coauthor and senior scientist at the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, said that’s why research focusing on the role these companies play in the climate crisis is important.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Anna Ho, an assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University and a coauthor with Perley on the paper, identified the remarkable event soon after its light arrived at Earth.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

Núñez was coauthor of a study published in 2023 in the journal Buildings that examined a type of concrete building higher than 20 stories and built to minimum Venezuelan code requirements.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2026

Fernando and his coauthor, Constantinos Charalambous, a research fellow at Imperial College London, tested the technique by analyzing the reentry of debris from China's Shenzhou-15 spacecraft.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2026

Security officials used the camps as “a system for shaking people down,” Marcus Noland, a Washington-based economist and coauthor of the report, told me.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden