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

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

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

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

The upcoming project is set to hit theaters Nov. 19, 2027, and will reunite original “Gremlins” scribe Chris Columbus with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, which produced the first two “Gremlins” films.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2025

Tennis Association has asked carriers to airbrush the reaction, tennis scribe Ben Rothenberg reported –Alcaraz-Sinner has become the best theater in sports.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 7, 2025

My A.I. scribe has restored the joy to my practice, an experience that is not quantifiable in a metric but which my patients and I can feel in our bones.

From Slate • Aug. 19, 2025

His palms were warm and rough, a startling contrast to his long, agile fingers, the fingers of a scribe or ketubah painter.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Related Words

• author
• journalist
• writer