Standard Lemma guide

novelist

noun · 3 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: /ˈnɑvəlɪst/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnɒvəlɪst/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: N AA1 V AH0 L AH0 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An author of novels.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: dime novelist, graphic novelist, historical novelist

2

noun

Meaning 2

An innovator; one who introduces something new; one who favors novelty.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

one who writes novels

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: Agee, James Agee, Alcott, Louisa May Alcott, Balzac, Honore Balzac, Honore de Balzac, Faulkner, William Faulkner, William Cuthbert Faulkner, Falkner, William Falkner, Genet, Jean Genet, Giraudoux, Jean Giraudoux, Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux, Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hugo, Victor Hugo, Victor-Marie Hugo, Meredith, George Meredith, Pirandello, Luigi Pirandello, Proust, Marcel Proust, Zola, Emile Zola

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nu Proto-Indo-European *néwos Proto-Italic *nowos Latin novus Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin -ellus Latin novellus Vulgar Latin *novella Italian novellabor. English novel 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 novelist From novel + -ist.

Across languages

Translations

98 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: romanskrywer — author of novels
  • Albanian: romancier — author of novels
  • Albanian: novelist — author of novels
  • Arabic: رِوَائِيّ (riwāʔiyy) — author of novels
  • Arabic: رِوَائِيَّة (riwāʔiyya) — author of novels
  • Armenian: վիպասան (vipasan) — author of novels
  • Asturian: novelista — author of novels
  • Azerbaijani: romançı — author of novels
  • Azerbaijani: romanist — author of novels
  • Basque: eleberrigile — author of novels
  • Basque: nobelagile — author of novels
  • Belarusian: рамані́ст (ramaníst) — author of novels
  • Belarusian: рамані́стка (ramanístka) — author of novels
  • Belarusian: белетры́ст (bjeljetrýst) — author of novels
  • Belarusian: белетры́стка (bjeljetrýstka) — author of novels
  • Bulgarian: романи́ст (romaníst) — author of novels
  • Bulgarian: романи́стка (romanístka) — author of novels
  • Bulgarian: белетри́ст (beletríst) — author of novels
  • Bulgarian: белетри́стка (beletrístka) — author of novels
  • Catalan: novel·lista — author of novels
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小說家 /小说家 (xiǎoshuōjiā) — author of novels
  • Czech: romanopisec — author of novels
  • Czech: romanopiskyně — author of novels
  • Danish: romanforfatter — author of novels
  • Dutch: romancier — author of novels
  • Dutch: romanschrijver — author of novels
  • Esperanto: romanisto — author of novels
  • Estonian: romaanikirjanik — author of novels
  • Estonian: romanist — author of novels
  • Finnish: romaanikirjailija — author of novels
  • French: romancier — author of novels
  • French: romancière — author of novels
  • Galician: novelista — author of novels
  • Georgian: რომანისტი (romanisṭi) — author of novels
  • Georgian: ნოველისტი (novelisṭi) — author of novels
  • German: Romanautor — author of novels
  • German: Romanautorin — author of novels
  • German: Romanschreiber — author of novels
  • German: Romanschreiberin — author of novels
  • German: Romancier — author of novels
  • German: Romanschriftsteller — author of novels
  • German: Romanschriftstellerin — author of novels
  • German: Belletrist — author of novels
  • German: Belletristin — author of novels
  • Greek: μυθιστοριογράφος (mythistoriográfos) — author of novels
  • Hindi: उपन्यासकार (upanyāskār) — author of novels
  • Hindi: नावेलिस्ट (nāvelisṭ) — author of novels
  • Hungarian: regényíró — author of novels
  • Indonesian: novelis — author of novels
  • Interlingua: romancero — author of novels
  • Italian: romanziere — author of novels
  • Italian: romanziera — author of novels
  • Japanese: 小説家 (shōsetsuka) — author of novels
  • Kazakh: романшы (romanşy) — author of novels
  • Korean: 소설가 (soseolga) — author of novels
  • Northern Kurdish: romannivîs — author of novels
  • Kyrgyz: романист (romanist) — author of novels
  • Latvian: romānists — author of novels
  • Latvian: romāniste — author of novels
  • Lithuanian: romanistas — author of novels
  • Lithuanian: romanistė — author of novels
  • Macedonian: романопи́сец (romanopísec) — author of novels
  • Macedonian: романопи́ска (romanopíska) — author of novels
  • Macedonian: романсие́р (romansiér) — author of novels
  • Macedonian: романсие́рка (romansiérka) — author of novels
  • Marathi: कादंबरीकार (kādambrīkār) — author of novels
  • Norwegian Bokmål: romanforfatter — author of novels
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: romanforfattar — author of novels
  • Polish: powieściopisarz — author of novels
  • Polish: powieściopisarka — author of novels
  • Polish: beletrysta — author of novels
  • Polish: beletrystka — author of novels
  • Portuguese: romancista — author of novels
  • Portuguese: novelista — author of novels
  • Romanian: romancier — author of novels
  • Romanian: romancieră — author of novels
  • Russian: романи́ст (romaníst) — author of novels
  • Russian: романи́стка (romanístka) — author of novels
  • Russian: беллетри́ст (belletríst) — author of novels
  • Russian: беллетри́стка (belletrístka) — author of novels
  • Slovak: románopisec — author of novels
  • Slovak: románopiskyňa — author of novels
  • Slovene: romanopisec — author of novels
  • Slovene: romanopiska — author of novels
  • Spanish: novelista — author of novels
  • Swedish: romanförfattare — author of novels
  • Tagalog: nobelista — author of novels
  • Turkish: romancı — author of novels
  • Ukrainian: романі́ст (romaníst) — author of novels
  • Ukrainian: романі́стка (romanístka) — author of novels
  • Ukrainian: белетри́ст (beletrýst) — author of novels
  • Ukrainian: белетри́стка (beletrýstka) — author of novels
  • Ukrainian: новелі́ст (novelíst) — author of novels
  • Ukrainian: новелі́стка (novelístka) — author of novels
  • Uzbek: romanist — author of novels
  • Vietnamese: tiểu thuyết gia — author of novels
  • Welsh: nofelydd — author of novels
  • Yiddish: ראָמאַניסט (romanist) — author of novels
Real reading context

novelist in complete knowledge articles