Standard Lemma guide

librettist

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.

  • CMU ARPABET: L AH0 B R EH1 T AH0 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The person who writes a libretto.

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

author of words to be set to music in an opera or operetta

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: Gilbert, William Gilbert, William S. Gilbert, William Schwenk Gilbert, Sir William Gilbert

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English libretto 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 librettist From libretto + -ist.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: լիբրետիստ (libretist) — person who writes a libretto
  • Belarusian: лібрэты́ст (libretýst) — person who writes a libretto
  • Belarusian: лібрэты́стка (libretýstka) — person who writes a libretto
  • Bulgarian: либрети́ст (libretíst) — person who writes a libretto
  • Bulgarian: либрети́стка (libretístka) — person who writes a libretto
  • Czech: libretista — person who writes a libretto
  • Czech: libretistka — person who writes a libretto
  • Dutch: librettist — person who writes a libretto
  • French: librettiste — person who writes a libretto
  • Galician: libretista — person who writes a libretto
  • Georgian: ლიბრეტისტი (libreṭisṭi) — person who writes a libretto
  • German: Librettist — person who writes a libretto
  • German: Librettistin — person who writes a libretto
  • Ido: libretisto — person who writes a libretto
  • Italian: librettista — person who writes a libretto
  • Kazakh: либреттошы (librettoşy) — person who writes a libretto
  • Latvian: libretists — person who writes a libretto
  • Latvian: libretiste — person who writes a libretto
  • Macedonian: либрети́ст (libretíst) — person who writes a libretto
  • Macedonian: либрети́стка (libretístka) — person who writes a libretto
  • Norwegian Bokmål: librettist — person who writes a libretto
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: librettist — person who writes a libretto
  • Polish: librecista — person who writes a libretto
  • Polish: librecistka — person who writes a libretto
  • Portuguese: libretista — person who writes a libretto
  • Romanian: libretist — person who writes a libretto
  • Romanian: libretistă — person who writes a libretto
  • Russian: либретти́ст (librettíst) — person who writes a libretto
  • Russian: либретти́стка (librettístka) — person who writes a libretto
  • Slovak: libretista — person who writes a libretto
  • Slovak: libretistka — person who writes a libretto
  • Spanish: libretista — person who writes a libretto
  • Tajik: либреттонавис (librettonavis) — person who writes a libretto
  • Tatar: либретточы (librettoçı) — person who writes a libretto
  • Turkmen: librettoçy — person who writes a libretto
  • Ukrainian: лібрети́ст (libretýst) — person who writes a libretto
  • Ukrainian: лібрети́стка (libretýstka) — person who writes a libretto
Real reading context

librettist in complete knowledge articles