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• scribe
  scribe

  noun

  a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of printing.
• Scribe
  Scribe

  noun

  Augustin Eugène 1791–1861, French dramatist.

scribe

¹ American  

[skrahyb] / skraɪb /

noun

1. a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of printing.

2. a public clerk or writer, usually one having official status.

3. Also called sopher, sofer. Judaism. one of the group of Palestinian scholars and teachers of Jewish law and tradition, active from the 5th century b.c. to the 1st century a.d., who transcribed, edited, and interpreted the Bible.

4. a writer or author, especially a journalist.

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verb (used without object)

scribed, scribing

1. to act as a scribe; write.

verb (used with object)

scribed, scribing

1. to write down.

scribe ² American  

[skrahyb] / skraɪb /

verb (used with object)

scribed, scribing

1. to mark or score (wood or the like) with a pointed instrument as a guide to cutting or assembling.

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noun

1. scriber.

Scribe ³ American  

[skreeb] / skrib /

noun

1. Augustin Eugène 1791–1861, French dramatist.

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scribe ¹ British  

/ skraɪb /

noun

1. a person who copies documents, esp a person who made handwritten copies before the invention of printing

2. a clerk or public copyist

3. Old Testament a recognized scholar and teacher of the Jewish Law

4. Judaism a man qualified to write certain documents in accordance with religious requirements

5. an author or journalist: used humorously

6. another name for scriber

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verb

1. to score a line on (a surface) with a pointed instrument, as in metalworking

Scribe ² British  

/ skrib /

noun

1. Augustin Eugène (oɡystɛ̃ øʒɛn). 1791–1861, French author or coauthor of over 350 vaudevilles, comedies, and libretti for light opera

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Other Word Forms

• scribal
  adjective
• unscribal
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of scribe¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin scrība clerk, derivative of scrībere to write

Origin of scribe²

First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps aphetic form of inscribe

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Explanation

A scribe is a term for someone employed to make written copies of documents. Before printing was invented, the busy scribes in a village would write copies of all the legal documents. As a noun, scribe has several meanings. It's used as an informal term to refer to journalists. Scribe also refers to a sharply pointed tool used for marking wood or metal to be cut. As a verb, it means "to score a line on something with a pointed instrument." The master craftsmen instructed you to scribe a line on the piece of wood where he pointed, to mark the spot where he wanted it cut.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scribe Scribe scribed scribing

"I will say that the Iranian state media has not been a very good scribe about what's happened in the conflict thus far. So I'm extremely skeptical of this."

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Penner said the work was copied over in Ancient Greek "probably by a student or a somewhat skilful scribe".

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Wherever the sleuth goes, the scribe is sure to follow—if about five steps behind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

Or as one scribe put it, the school didn’t want to be dwarfed by “a gigantic breakfast side dish.”

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 12, 2025

“This one heard die Astapori scratching at the walls last night,” the little scribe said as she was washing Dany’s back.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Back in California, Scribe is another tech firm that allows companies to automatically create AI user guides.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024

Then we’ll stop by Lady & Larder for a Scribe rosé pinot noir, colorful candles and crackers.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2024

Call it "Get to the Hed," "Bet Your Hed" or "The Hed-less Scribe."

From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2023

The Kindle Scribe takes the traditional Kindle design and adds features that turn it into a digital notebook.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 28, 2022

"Of what vile Contract was I e'er the Scribe, "Or of whose Hands have I receiv'd a Bribe?

From Are these Things So? (1740) The Great Man's Answer to Are These things So: (1740) by Anonymous

Just over a three-hour drive south, skirting the Rhine until you hit the Swiss border, heading into an Alpine gateway towards the turquoise waters of Lake Thun, footballing folklore is being scribed.

From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026

Bill Plaschke’s eloquent elegy about Kobe may be the best column he’s ever scribed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2021

Petroglyphs, scribed into desert rocks thousands of years ago, alert him to the human pasts of places deemed unpeopled “wastes” by the first white men to apprehend them.

From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2020

Not long ago, I spent a day following Lynden Lee as he scribed at a Massachusetts General Hospital primary-care practice.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018

If the lower rail be moulded with the same members as the sash bar, the end of the sash bar will have to be scribed on to it to make a fit.

From Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. by William Fairham

Who is taking care of the patients all those scribing doctors aren’t seeing?

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018

I would get John Bradley to start scribing out the entire books that George R.R.

From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2017

Two decades after that first visit, Magdalen’s 15th-century cloisters, decorated with coats of arms and gargoyles, looked every bit as inspiring as I remembered, though deserted, the scholars no doubt scribing upstairs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2016

The important thing is that the Supreme Court has now closed the circle it was scribing with Bilski and Mayo vs.

From Forbes ● Jun. 19, 2014

The boys were early trained to copy—though not to read; he had to teach himself that part—and those with any skill were drafted into scribing.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

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Related Words

• author
• journalist
• writer

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