What does corrigendum mean?
A corrigendum is an official notice that identifies errors or omissions in a published work and gives the corrections needed. The plural corrigenda is especially common in books, journals, reports, and legal texts, where a separate list may accompany the original publication. The term is formal and editorial rather than conversational; someone might simply say “correction” or “erratum” in ordinary speech. A corrigendum can refer to the notice as a whole or to an individual correction within it, and its use often suggests that the underlying work remains authoritative despite the acknowledged mistakes. The word is useful because it names a precise publishing practice: correcting a book publicly without silently replacing pages or pretending that an error never occurred. Derived from Latin, it also makes the process of correction visible and accountable.
nounAn official notice identifying errors or omissions in a published work and providing the corrections needed. It may also refer to an individual correction in such a work.
- An official notice or list identifying errors or omissions in a published work and providing corrections.
- A correction of a specific error in a published work.
"The publisher issued a corrigendum correcting several errors in the book's first edition."
"The publisher issued a corrigendum correcting several errors in the book's first edition."
"The notice in the revised edition is a corrigendum to the original article."
The traditional plural is especially used for a list of corrections issued separately from the work it corrects.
"The journal published corrigenda to the winter issue."
A corrigendum lets a published book correct itself without pretending the mistake never happened.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does corrigendum come from?
The word comes from Latin corrigendum, meaning “that which is to be corrected,” the neuter gerundive form of corrigere, “to set right or correct.” Latin corrigere combines an intensive form of com- with regere, “to direct or guide,” reflecting the idea of setting something straight. English borrowed the term in the early seventeenth century, and cognates such as correct, correction, corrigible, and corrigibility developed through the same Latin root.
How corrigendum is actually used
A formal editorial term, especially associated with publishing, academic editing, reports, and legal documentation. It is more common in formal writing than in everyday speech.
Easily confused with corrigendum
An erratum is an individual error in a published work, whereas a corrigendum is the notice or list that identifies such errors and supplies their corrections.