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
- Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., s.v. “copy editor.”
- 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.”)
- 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.)
- The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 7.89.
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 391.
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed., s.v. “copyedit.”
- Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., s.v. “copy editor.”
- The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 2.48.
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 391.
- 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.”)
- 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.)
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed., s.v. “copyedit.”