Etymologically
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registry

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹɛd͡ʒɪstɹi/[1]

Etymology

It was formed from English register + -ry.[2][3][4] Etymonline takes it from the noun register with the suffix -y,[5] the Shorter Oxford from the verb,[2] and the OED explains it as a variant of the earlier registery with the third syllable dropped.[6] The Shorter Oxford compares Medieval Latin registerium.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A register or book of record, or an entry in one: a1529, in John Skelton's Why Come Ye Not to Court,[6][7] the date Merriam-Webster gives as about 1529.[3] Etymonline dates the word to the late 15th century in the sense "the act of registering",[5] and Dictionary.com to 1475–85.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the book itself the word passed in 1531 to the office where registers are kept,[6][7] Etymonline dates that sense to about 1600.[5] The OED's first quotation for the act of registering, registration, is from Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie (1589),[6] and Johnson (1755) gave both "the act of inserting in the register" and "the place where the register is kept".[8] The office of registrar was also called a registry from 1648 to 1740.[6][7] Later senses include the nationality of a ship as shown by its entry in a register,[3][9] the North American gift list kept by a shop for a wedding (1933),[6] and in computing the Windows database of configuration settings (1992).[6]

Timeline

  • a1529 – a register, a book of record.[6][3]
  • 1531 – an office where registers are kept.[6]
  • 1589 – the act of registering.[6]
  • 1648–1740 – the office of registrar.[6]
  • 1933 – (North America) a gift list kept by a shop.[6]
  • 1992 – (computing) the Windows registry.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A place or office where registers or records are kept: They married at the local registry.
  2. An official list or record; a register: a national registry of organ donors.
  3. The act of registering; registration.
  4. The country in which a ship is registered, and whose flag it flies: a tanker of Panamanian registry.
  5. (chiefly North America) A list of gifts chosen by a couple before a wedding or by parents before a birth, kept by a shop for guests to buy from.
  6. (computing) A database in Windows systems that stores settings for the operating system, programs and hardware.

Word family

  • registry office

Usage notes

A registry office (also register office) is a British local office where births, marriages and deaths are recorded and civil marriages take place.[2][9]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins