Standard Lemma guide

biographer

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: B AY0 AA1 G R AH0 F ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The writer of a biography; a professional writer of biographies.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

someone who writes an account of a person's life

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: writer, author

Narrower terms: autobiographer, hagiographer, hagiographist, hagiologist, Plutarch, Strachey, Lytton Strachey, Giles Lytton Strachey

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gweyh3-der. Ancient Greek βίος (bíos) Proto-Indo-European *gerbh- Proto-Hellenic *grə́phō Ancient Greek γρᾰ́φω (grắphō) Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek γραφή (graphḗ) Ancient Greek -γραφία (-graphía) Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā)der. New Latin biographiabor. English biography Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English biographer From biography + -er.

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: biograf — the writer of a biography
  • Armenian: կենսագիր (kensagir) — the writer of a biography
  • Asturian: biógrafu — the writer of a biography
  • Belarusian: біёграф (bijóhraf) — the writer of a biography
  • Bulgarian: биограф (biograf) — the writer of a biography
  • Bulgarian: биографка (biografka) — the writer of a biography
  • Bulgarian: животописец (životopisec) — the writer of a biography
  • Catalan: biògraf — the writer of a biography
  • Chinese Mandarin: 傳記作家 /传记作家 (zhuànjì zuòjiā) — the writer of a biography
  • Chinese Mandarin: 傳記作者 /传记作者 (zhuànjì zuòzhě) — the writer of a biography
  • Czech: biograf — the writer of a biography
  • Czech: životopisec — the writer of a biography
  • Dutch: biograaf — the writer of a biography
  • Esperanto: biografo — the writer of a biography
  • Finnish: elämäkerturi — the writer of a biography
  • Finnish: elämäkerran kirjoittaja — the writer of a biography
  • French: biographe — the writer of a biography
  • Galician: biógrafo — the writer of a biography
  • German: Biograf — the writer of a biography
  • Greek: βιογράφος (viográfos) — the writer of a biography
  • Hungarian: életrajzíró — the writer of a biography
  • Hungarian: biográfus — the writer of a biography
  • Irish: beathaisnéisí — the writer of a biography
  • Italian: biografo — the writer of a biography
  • Macedonian: биогра́ф (biográf) — the writer of a biography
  • Macedonian: животописец (životopisec) — the writer of a biography
  • Māori: kaituhi haurongo — the writer of a biography
  • Norwegian Bokmål: biograf — the writer of a biography
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: biograf — the writer of a biography
  • Occitan: biograf — the writer of a biography
  • Polish: biograf — the writer of a biography
  • Polish: biografka — the writer of a biography
  • Portuguese: biógrafo — the writer of a biography
  • Romanian: biograf — the writer of a biography
  • Romanian: biografă — the writer of a biography
  • Russian: био́граф (biógraf) — the writer of a biography
  • Spanish: biógrafo — the writer of a biography
  • Spanish: biógrafa — the writer of a biography
  • Swedish: levnadstecknare — the writer of a biography
  • Thai: นักเขียนชีวประวัติ — the writer of a biography
  • Ukrainian: біо́граф (bióhraf) — the writer of a biography
Real reading context

biographer in complete knowledge articles