Standard Lemma guide

copyist

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.

  • General-American: /ˈkɑpiɪst/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɒpiɪst/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person who makes manual copies of works such as manuscripts or paintings.

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 employed to make written copies of documents and manuscripts

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: scribe, scrivener

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: employee

Narrower terms: Ezra

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English copy Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English copyist From copy + -ist.

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: copista — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Dutch: kopiist — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Finnish: jäljentäjä — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Finnish: kopisti — person who makes manual copies of works
  • French: copiste — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Georgian: გადამწერი (gadamc̣eri) — person who makes manual copies of works
  • German: Kopist — person who makes manual copies of works
  • German: Kopistin — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Greek: αντιγραφέας (antigraféas) — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Italian: copista — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Latin: librarius — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Latin: librariolus — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Macedonian: препи́шувач (prepíšuvač) — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Polish: kopista — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Polish: kopistka — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Portuguese: copista — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Spanish: copista — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Spanish: amanuense — person who makes manual copies of works
  • Turkish: kopist — person who makes manual copies of works
Real reading context

copyist in complete knowledge articles