codex

An early manuscript book.

Noun

  1. An early manuscript book.
  2. A book bound in the modern manner, by joining pages, as opposed to a rolled scroll.
    • From its inception, the index has provided a window onto the history of the book, for it took the advent of a particular type of book — the codex, a sheaf of pages fastened along one edge — to make an index a practical...
  3. An official list of medicines and medicinal ingredients.

Origin

Borrowed from Latin cōdex, variant form of caudex (“tree trunk, book, notebook”); compare caudex (in botany). Doublet of code.

Forms

codices codexes

Related

caudex code codicology codify codification codifier stemma codicum dispensatory formulary pharmacopoeia

Derived

cryptex