gazetteer

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a journalist who writes for a gazette
  2. noun a geographical dictionary (as at the back of an atlas)

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from French gazettier (archaic), gazetier (“journalist, newspaperman”) + English -eer (suffix forming agent nouns denoting people associated with or engaged in a specified activities). Gazettier, gazetier are derived from gazette (“newspaper”) + -ier (suffix denoting a profession); and gazette from Italian gazzetta, from Venetan gazeta, from gazeta dele novità (literally “a gazeta of news”) (referring to the cost of the newspaper, a gazeta being a Venetian coin of little value, whence English gazet (obsolete)), possibly a diminutive of Latin gaza (“riches, treasure; treasury”), ultimately from Old Median *ganǰam (“treasure; wealth”). The English word is analysable as gazette + -eer. The verb is derived from the noun.

In classic literature

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading