lessicografia

Lessicografia is a field concerned with the description, compilation, and organization of a language’s vocabulary through dictionaries and lexicons. In many languages the standard term for this discipline is lexicografía (or lexicography); lessicografia may appear as a less common variant or a misspelling. When used, it denotes the same core aim: to document word forms, meanings, pronunciations, etymologies, and usage, and to present this information in a structured reference work.

Historically, lexicography grew from lists of words and glossaries in antiquity and the Middle Ages, evolving into comprehensive general dictionaries in the early modern period, and expanding through corpus-based and computational methods in the 20th and 21st centuries. The field combines linguistic analysis with editorial practice and, increasingly, data science and computer engineering.

Core activities include selecting headwords, delineating senses, writing precise definitions, recording etymologies, providing pronunciations, and noting grammatical information and usage. Lexicographers also assemble examples, identify collocations, organize cross-references, and set editorial standards for consistency and reliability. The work spans both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, as well as specialized works for domains such as science, medicine, or law, and digital or online dictionaries.

Lessicografia intersects with lexicology, corpus linguistics, and information science. Modern practice emphasizes corpus-driven data, user interfaces, update cycles, and open data, reflecting ongoing shifts toward digital, editable, and crowd-sourced dictionary resources.