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The word glossary is derived from a Greek word meaning what?

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glossary

American  

[glos-uh-ree, glaw-suh-] / ˈglɒs ə ri, ˈglɔ sə- /

noun

• glossaries
  plural

1. 

   a list of terms in a special subject, field, or area of usage, with accompanying definitions.

2. such a list at the back of a book, explaining or defining difficult or unusual words and expressions used in the text.

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glossary British  

/ ˈɡlɒsərɪ /

noun

1. Sometimes called: gloss. an alphabetical list of terms peculiar to a field of knowledge with definitions or explanations

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• glossarist
  noun
• glossarial
  adjective
• glossarially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• glossaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of glossary

1350–1400; Middle English glossarye < Latin glōssarium difficult word requiring explanation < Greek glōssárion, diminutive of glôssa tongue, language; later taken as a collection of such words, by construing suffix as Latin -ārium -ary; cf. gloss ²

Explanation

A glossary is a dictionary of terms specific to a certain subject. A biology textbook might have a glossary in the back, so you can quickly look up all those technical words. Many fields of study use terms that are pretty much restricted to that field of study, so authors often supply a glossary to help people understand what they're talking about. The glossary is often found at the end of a book or article and is usually in alphabetical order. A glossary can also come at the end of a chapter or even in footnotes. If you're just joining the world of Dungeons and Dragons, I recommend you look over the glossary, so you can get a sense of what your fellow gamers are talking about.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

glossary glossaries

Jason is the author of "Your Money and Your Brain," on the neuroscience of investing, and "The Devil's Financial Dictionary," a satirical glossary of business jargon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

A glossary of technical terms is updated regularly with new entries.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2025

Health risks and other information contained in this glossary come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2025

Here, you’ll find a glossary breaking down what all the ridiculous terms that get batted around when talking about crypto actually mean.

From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2025

His book begins with a glossary to help the reader make sense of these new words.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

If you find yourself confused by any of these idioms, please consult one of the many “Love Island” glossaries the internet has to offer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2022

Shieling, gneiss, pash, choss, sheep-fank: While reading Robert Macfarlane’s essays in “Landmarks” you’ll want to pause to say the words — collected in glossaries throughout — aloud, savoring their pronunciations and meanings.

From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2018

At one point Lynch simply lists unusual guides and glossaries, such as “The Baltimore Bottle Book: Being an Annotated List of 170 Years of the Collector Bottles of Baltimore City and Baltimore County, 1820-1990.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 17, 2016

Updated daily, the site already contains glossaries for more than 1000 languages from 23 different language families, including 145,000 words.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 30, 2015

Behind the glossaries of warning calls, alarms, mating messages, pronouncements of territory, calls for recruitment, and demands for dispersal, there is redundant, elegant sound that is unaccountable as part of the working day.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

• dictionary
• vocabulary