Dictionaries are references that list words in alphabetical order along with their meanings, pronunciations, and origins. There are two main types - descriptive dictionaries that describe language usage and prescriptive dictionaries that prescribe proper usage. Dictionaries are used to learn new words, check definitions and spellings, and understand word origins. They contain entries with parts like definitions, pronunciations, and examples. The earliest known dictionaries date back to 2300 BCE in ancient Mesopotamia. The first English dictionary was published in 1604 by Robert Cawdrey. Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary was influential in standardizing American English.

1. By Dr. Arlene S. Opina The Dictionary The Best Source of Words

2. Dictionary also called a lexicon , wordbook , or vocabulary , is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information.

3. The Two Kinds of Dictionaries Descriptive - describe the language. They include words that are commonly used even if they are nonstandard. They will often include nonstandard spellings. Ex. Merriam-Webster, Times-Mirror, World Book, and Funk and Wagnall's. Prescriptive - tend to be more concerned about correct or standard English. They prescribe the proper usage and spelling of words. Ex. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755) had social commentary and jokes; American Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

4. Why do we use dictionaries? To learn new words To learn the origin of a word To check the meaning of a word To check the parts of speech of a word To learn multiple meanings of a word To learn to pronounce a word To construct a sentence using the word

5. Parts of the Dictionary

6. Parts of the Dictionary

7. Parts of the Dictionary

8. Trivia The earliest modern European dictionaries were bilingual dictionaries. Akkadian empire cuneiform tablets (with bilingual Sumerian–Akkadian wordlists) - The oldest known dictionaries, discovered in Ebla (modern Syria) and dated roughly 2300 BCE

9. First English Dictionary The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall , written by English schoolteacher Robert Cawdrey in 1604. The only surviving copy is found at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

10. Noah Webster In 1806, American, published his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language . It took him twenty-seven years to complete “ An American Dictionary of the English Language .” To evaluate the etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-six languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), German, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Arabic, and Sanskrit. At the age of seventy, Webster published his dictionary in 1828; it sold 2500 copies. In 1840, the second edition was published in two volumes.

11. Major English dictionaries A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson (prescriptive) The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Black's Law Dictionary , a law dictionary Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Canadian Oxford Dictionary Century Dictionary Chambers Dictionary Collins English Dictionary Concise Oxford English Dictionary Longman Macquarie Dictionary , a dictionary of Australian English Merriam-Webster New Oxford Dictionary of English Oxford Dictionary of English Oxford English Dictionary (descriptive) Random House Dictionary of the English Language Noah Webster 's An American Dictionary of the English Language (prescriptive) Webster's Dictionary (descriptive) Webster's New World Dictionary

12. Quizzes http://library.thinkquest.org/5585/dictionary.htm http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=dictionary-quiz