Erin McKean: The joy of lexicography | TED Talk | TED.com

You have JavaScript disabled

For the best experience, please turn JavaScript on. Here's how

TED2007 · 15:50 · Filmed Mar 2007
Subtitles available in 31 languages
View interactive transcript

Is the beloved paper dictionary doomed to extinction? In this infectiously exuberant talk, leading lexicographer Erin McKean looks at the many ways today's print dictionary is poised for transformation.

Dictionary editor

As the co-founder of Reverb Technologies, the maker of the online dictionary Wordnik, Erin McKean is reshaping how we interact with language itself. Full bio

This talk was presented at an official TED conference, and was featured by our editors on the home page.

Playlists to watch

Related talks

Learn more

Q&A: The wonders of Wordnik

Read an interview with McKean on the launch of Wordnik — and find out why dictionary editors apparently love Twitter.

Take action

Participate in Wordnik. Help build the world's largest online dictionary.

wordnik.com Visit site

Connect with Wordnik. Use the API to integrate word definitions and synonyms into your app.

developer.wordnik.com Visit site

Discuss

144 comments

Enthusiastically agree? Respectfully beg to differ? Have your say here.

2000 characters remaining

Don't have an account? Sign up now — it's fast and free.

Sort comments by Newest Upvotes

There are currently no comments for this talk.

Show more comments