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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  

/ ɡlɒˈsɛərɪəl, 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 ● May 29, 2026

In fact, the word “civilization” is mentioned 24 times in the S-1, along with 38 pages of risk factors, a 6½-page glossary of terms, and myriad beauty shots of rockets and space.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

There’s no glossary, but the main terms are clear enough: to “send” a climb is to finish it; a “crux” is a crucial pivot point.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2026

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

These are sometimes called Asiatic, Attic, and Rhodian: hence “Atticism” and “Asianism” in this book’s glossary.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

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

The glossaries, on the other hand, may come as a bit of a letdown to old-school wordniks.

From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2016

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