Lexicography

Lexicography \lek-suh-KAH-gruh-fee\ , noun;
1. The writing or compiling of dictionaries; the editing or making of dictionaries
2. The principles and practices applies to writing dictionaries

This word dates to the 1650's from French lexicographe, which means "lexicographer". The French word is derived from Greek lexikographos, which is a combination of lexikon + -graphos ("wordbook" + "writer"). -Graphos comes from the word graphein, meaning "to write". Lexikon comes from the neuter form of lexikos ("pertaining to words"), which comes from lexis ("word"), which comes from legein (the forebear of lecture, "say").

Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Friday, February 25
Etymologies come from the Oxford English Dictionary and/or Etymonline.com