# scribe

> English word · Noun · IPA /skɹaɪb/ · frequency rank #26,239

## Definitions
1. Someone who writes; a draughtsperson; a writer for another; especially, an official or public writer; an amanuensis, secretary, notary, or copyist.
2. Someone who writes; a draughtsperson; a writer for another; especially, an official or public writer; an amanuensis, secretary, notary, or copyist.
3. A journalist.
4. A writer and doctor of the law; one skilled in the law and traditions; one who read and explained the law to the people.
5. A very sharp, steel drawing implement used in engraving and etching, a scriber.

## Etymology
From Middle English scribe, from Old French scribe (“scribe”), from Late Latin usage of scrība (“secretary”) (used in the Vulgate Bible translation to render Ancient Greek γραμματεύς (grammateús, “scribe, secretary”), which had been used in its turn to render the Hebrew סופר (“writer, scholar”)) from scrībere (“to write, draw, draw up, draft (a paper), enlist, enroll, levy; orig. to scratch”), probably akin to scrobs (“a ditch, trench, grave”).

## Easily confused with
- **scrub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-scrub)
- **serie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-serie)
- **scrip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-scrip)
- **strike** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-strike)
- **script** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-script)
- **shrine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-shrine)
- **strive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-strive)
- **stripe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-stripe)
- **stride** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-stride)
- **strife** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-strife)
- **sprite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-sprite)
- **strobe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-strobe)
- **serine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribe-vs-serine)
- **scrape** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scrape-vs-scribe)
- **scribble** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scribble-vs-scribe)

## Common misspellings (9)
`csribe`, `sccribe`, `scirbe`, `scrbie`, `scribbe`, `scrieb`, `scrribe`, `srcibe`, `sscribe`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/scribe