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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

“Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which he directed, was his final project as a scribe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025

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

Turf scribe Jack McDonald surveyed the production and wondered if the net effect would be to inspire Ligaroti or scare him to death.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

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

Amazon also introduced the Kindle Scribe, the next generation of its Kindle that enables users to write directly on the page.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 28, 2022

About the middle of October Mendelssohn was in communication with Lumley, lessee of Her Majesty's, for an opera, libretto by Scribe, on the same subject.

From Shakespeare and Music by Christopher Wilson

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2021

The "apotropaic" marks were scribed into the cave surface as they were thought to keep evil spirits coming from the underworld.

From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2019

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

Exquisitely inked manuscript records of these marks still exist: lines and crosses scribed across diagrammatic beaks.

From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2017

She rolled over and grabbed my keyboard and scribed on the touchpad with her fingertip.

From Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

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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