codex

noun

co·dex ˈkō-ˌdeks

plural codices ˈkō-də-ˌsēz

ˈkä-

: a manuscript book especially of Scripture, classics, or ancient annals

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In the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., the codex began to replace the older scroll as the preferred form for longer writings. Unlike the scroll, this wonderful invention permitted writing on both sides of a sheet, made it easy to locate a particular passage, and could contain a very long piece of writing. Codices (note this unusual plural form) were usually written on parchment, the specially prepared skin of a sheep or goat, or papyrus, the ancestor of paper. Because codices were handwritten, there were few copies of any single codex, and sometimes only a single copy. Today we no longer write our books in longhand, but the modern book has kept basically the same form as the original codices.

Examples of codex in a Sentence

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As per the complex centuries-old Parisian dress codex, there are three ways to do costume at any Paris fashion week. —

Guy Martin, Forbes, 26 Sep. 2024 What preserves the voices of the great authors from one century to the next is not the recording device (the clay tablet, the scroll, the codex, the book, the computer, the iPad) but the force of imagination and the power of expression. —

Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 19 Aug. 2024 There are also artworks and archaeological artifacts on loan from Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and two rare, spectacular Mesoamerican codices from Oxford University’s Bodleian Library. —

Harrison Jacobs, ARTnews.com, 19 Sep. 2024 Numbers and metrics have become a codex through which everything is processed: Rotten Tomatoes percentages, box-office sales, Spotify streams, Instagram followers now play an outsize role in determining what is culturally valuable. —

Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for codex