codex
Americannoun
plural
codices-
a quire of manuscript pages held together by stitching: the earliest form of book, replacing the scrolls and wax tablets of earlier times.
-
a manuscript volume, usually of an ancient classic or the Scriptures.
-
Archaic. a code; book of statutes.
noun
-
a volume, in book form, of manuscripts of an ancient text
-
obsolete a legal code
Etymology
Origin of codex
1575–85; < Latin cōdex, caudex tree-trunk, book (formed originally from wooden tablets); code
Explanation
A codex is an ancient book made of stacked, hand-written pages. A historian might study a medieval codex full of beautiful calligraphy and illustrations decorated with gold leaf. The ancient Romans invented the codex. When the codex first appeared as a way to bind a manuscript, it was a great improvement over previous methods. One of these was the scroll, a long roll of paper, and another was a wax tablet. Codex is a Latin word used to mean "book of laws," although it's literally "tree trunk." The plural of codex is codices.
Vocabulary lists containing codex
Aztec, Maya, and Inca Empires - Introductory
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Aztec, Maya, and Inca Empires - Middle School and High School
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An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
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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.
Ancient Aztec communities from the pre-Columbian period of Mesoamerica had a rich mythological codex that was also part of their ritual and sacrificial ceremonies.
From Science Daily • Nov. 19, 2024
Studs are like codex for the alternative — unmistakable messaging that turns any chill fit into a statement.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2024
A twelfth-century codex illustration shows the Byzantines using Greek fire to burn an enemy ship during a rebellion of the ninth century.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
In the 13th Century, the codex was dedicated to a synagogue in Makisin, in north-eastern Syria.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2023
The drawing at left, from a sixteenth-century codex, is a winter- count-like depiction of a year dominated by smallpox; two men lie dying or dead, their bodies spotted with pustules.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions 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.
