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columnist

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Etymology and origin of the English word columnist

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1915
Ultimate origin
Latin columna
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English column
English columnist

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkɒ.lə.mɪst/, /ˈkɒ.ləm.nɪst/[1]
  • US: /ˈkɑ.ləm.nɪst/, /ˈkɑ.lə.mɪst/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English column + -ist, from column in the sense of a regular article in a newspaper.[2][3][4][5] Dictionary.com marks it as an Americanism.[5] The newspaper sense of column, matter written for a newspaper column, dates from 1785.[3] Column itself comes from Old French colombe, from Latin columna (“pillar”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who writes serially for a newspaper or magazine: 1915 in Etymonline,[3] 1917 in Merriam-Webster[6] and 1920 in the OED, from Blackwood's Magazine.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the United States the word was also spelled jocularly colyumist;[2] Barry Popik notes that the humorous colyumist was popular from 1910 to 1930 and names Franklin Pierce Adams and Bert L. Taylor as candidates for the first newspaper columnist.^(Popik|"Colyumist (Columnist)", 22 June 2006) Merriam-Webster extends the term to someone who presents a radio or television programme in the manner of a newspaper column.[6] The Shorter Oxford refers to the compound fifth columnist.[4]

Timeline

  • 1915 – a writer of a regular newspaper column (Etymonline).[3]
  • 1917 – Merriam-Webster's first known use.[6]
  • 1920 – the OED's first quotation, of a “colyumist” of a New York paper.^(Popik|"Colyumist (Columnist)", 22 June 2006)[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A journalist who writes a regular column in a newspaper or magazine: a sports columnist.[7][6][8]
  2. A person who presents a radio or television programme in the style of such a column.[6]

Word family

  • columnistic

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Columnist.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/columnist. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·