Bibliography

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /bɪbliˈɒɡɹəfi/

Definitions

1. A list of sources such as books, articles, and other materials that were consulted or cited in the creation of a written work
2. A compilation of written works, including books, articles, and other references, that supports and provides context for a scholarly piece
3. An organized list of resources like books and articles used in research or writing, highlighting their relevance and contribution

Etymology: The Greek "bibliographia" meant "the act or habit of writing books," built from "biblion," a small book (the diminutive of "biblos," papyrus or book), and "graphein," to write. Its sense was originally about copying or authoring books rather than listing them. The word then moved into English and French, where it came to mean a catalogue of books, and only later took on the sense of a list of sources cited in a piece of writing. The modern meaning has a neat reversal in it: the Greek root points to making books, while English use points to recording them. Scholars who compiled lists of works by an author, or by a subject, were doing the work that the English word now names, and the bibliography at the back of a study is the descendant of those catalogues.

Synonyms: reference, list, citation