Erin Wright Writing

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Am I a Copyeditor or a Copy Editor?

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Two devils debating whether the editor is a copyeditor or copy editor.

Copyeditor or copy editor? That is the million-dollar question! (Okay, maybe the thousand-dollar question.)

I have been a proud member of the writing and editing community for over a decade. That’s long enough to have witnessed epic battles over the serial comma and near fisticuffs over hyphenation. (Believe me, no one wants to witness actual grammar-induced fisticuffs. That would just be embarrassing . . . not to mention the danger of broken eyeglasses.)

I can’t explain why a community with such passion for precision doesn’t insist on a consistent spelling for our profession as a noun (i.e., copyeditor or copy editor) and as a verb (i.e., copyedit, copy edit, or copy-edit). In fact, we don’t even have a consensus among our most dog-eared reference materials. Here is a rundown of where several of those reference materials stand on the issue.

The Noun—Copyeditor or Copy Editor?

Those in favor of copy editor:

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary1
The Associated Press Stylebook2
Oxford English Dictionary3

Those in favor of copyeditor:

The Chicago Manual of Style4
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association5
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language6

The Verb—Copyedit, Copy Edit, or Copy-edit?

Those in favor of copyedit:

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary7
The Chicago Manual of Style8
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association9

Those in favor of copy edit:

The Associated Press Stylebook10

Those in favor of copy-edit:

Oxford English Dictionary11

Those in favor of copyedit or copy-edit:

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language12

So, which spelling should you choose in the face of such divergence? As with all things style-related, there is no right or wrong answer, so make an informed decision based on your preferred reference materials. I, personally, follow Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary on this issue but will always defer to my clients’ official dictionaries or in-house style guides.

Still, I think we copy editors should have a competition with the copyeditors for naming rights to our profession. A winner-takes-all game of grammar trivia is the obvious choice, but it would never work because we would never agree on the correct answers. Maybe a thumb-wrestling contest?

References

  1. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., s.v. “copy editor.”
  2. The Associated Press Stylebook 2019 (New York: Associated Press, 2019), 69. (Please note that The Associated Press Stylebook 2020–2022 no longer includes an entry for “copy editor.”)
  3. Oxford English Dictionary Online, s.v., “copy editor,” accessed October 21, 2019. (Please note that this website is only accessible with membership to Oxford English Dictionary Online.)
  4. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 7.89.
  5. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 391.
  6. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed., s.v. “copyedit.”
  7. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., s.v. “copy editor.”
  8. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 2.48.
  9. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 391.
  10. The Associated Press Stylebook 2019 (New York: Associated Press, 2019), 69. (Please note that The Associated Press Stylebook 2020–2022 no longer includes an entry for “copy editor.”)
  11. Oxford English Dictionary Online, s.v., “copy-edit,” accessed October 21, 2019. (Please note that this website is only accessible with membership to the Oxford English Dictionary Online.)
  12. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed., s.v. “copyedit.”