⏰ when
When was the first English dictionary published?
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Quick Answer
The first English dictionary, Robert Cawdrey's 'A Table Alphabeticall', was published in 1604; Samuel Johnson's famous dictionary followed in 1755.
The Full Story
Cawdrey's small book explained about 2,500 'hard usual English words', many borrowed from Latin, Greek and French. Over the next 150 years, other dictionaries grew larger. Samuel Johnson's 'A Dictionary of the English Language', published on 15 April 1755, took about nine years and defined around 42,000 words. Johnson illustrated meanings with more than 100,000 quotations from literature, setting a new standard. The Oxford English Dictionary, begun in 1857, eventually published its first complete edition in 1928.
Key Facts
1.Cawdrey's dictionary appeared in 1604
2.Johnson's dictionary was published in 1755
3.The first full OED was completed in 1928
YouTube Angle
Suggested video title for this topic:
"The first people to define English"