The Dictionary of Lost Words Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters, and Themes

This quiz covers the full arc of Pip Williams's The Dictionary of Lost Words—from Esme's childhood under the sorting table to Megan Brooks's 1989 address. Questions are grouped by type: plot/sequence, character motivation, theme/symbol, and synthesis. An answer key with brief explanations follows.

Plot and Sequence (8 questions)

1. What is the first word Esme takes from the Scriptorium?

A. bondmaid
B. service
C. bondwoman
D. knacked

2. In what year does Esme begin menstruating, and who explains it to her?

(Short answer)

3. What event directly leads to Esme being sent to Cauldshiels School for Young Ladies?

A. Her father receives a letter from Ditte proposing the school.
B. She wins a scholarship for academic excellence.
C. She is caught stealing slips from the Scriptorium.
D. Lizzie recommends she leave Oxford for her health.

4. What does Esme discover in her father's wardrobe in April 1891?

(Short answer)

5. What happens to Mr. Mitchell, the Scriptorium assistant?

A. He resigns to become a missionary.
B. He dies after falling while climbing a mountain.
C. He is dismissed for stealing slips.
D. He moves to the Old Ashmolean to work with Mr. Bradley.

6. When Dr. Murray learns that “bondmaid” is missing from the A–B volume, what does Esme do with the slip she has kept?

(Short answer)

7. Who is the actress who befriends Esme, introduces her to the theatre, and later becomes a suffragette?

A. Tilda
B. Mabel
C. Rosfrith
D. Eleanor

8. What happens to Esme's baby daughter after she is born in March 1907?

(Short answer)

Character Motivation (5 questions)

9. Why does Esme begin collecting discarded word slips and hiding them in the trunk?

(Short answer)

10. Why does Lizzie keep Esme's trunk safe while Esme is away at school?

A. She hopes to sell the slips for money.
B. She is loyal to Esme and understands its importance.
C. She is afraid of Dr. Murray's reaction if she destroys it.
D. She plans to give it to the Dictionary as a gift.

11. What motivates Ditte to arrange for Esme to attend Cauldshiels School?

(Short answer)

12. Why does Esme refuse to marry Bill after she becomes pregnant?

A. She is already married to Gareth.
B. She does not love him and wants independence.
C. Her father forbids the marriage.
D. Bill refuses to leave the theatre.

13. Why does Gareth present Esme with a printed, leather-bound volume titled Women's Words and Their Meanings?

(Short answer)

Theme and Symbol (4 questions)

14. What does the trunk under Lizzie's bed symbolize for Esme?

A. The authority of the Oxford English Dictionary
B. The preservation of words that official lexicography ignores
C. The wealth of the Murray household
D. The importance of written over oral language

15. What does the word “bondmaid” come to represent in the novel?

(Short answer)

16. What is the significance of Lizzie's hat pin?

A. It is a gift from Esme's mother.
B. It is used to scratch “The Dictionary of Lost Words” into the trunk lid.
C. It is a symbol of Lizzie's engagement.
D. It is a tool for sorting dictionary slips.

17. How does the novel explore the theme of women's erasure from language?

(Short answer)

Synthesis (3 questions)

18. How does Esme's personal collection of words challenge the authority of the OED?

(Short answer)

19. In what way does the novel connect the suffrage movement to the dictionary project?

A. Both are shown to be exclusively male-dominated.
B. Both are concerned with who gets to define and be represented.
C. Both are funded by the same Oxford patrons.
D. Both are completed in 1928.

20. What does the epilogue suggest about the legacy of Esme's work?

(Short answer)

Answer Key

1. A. bondmaid

Esme catches the slip for “bondmaid” as a child under the sorting table; it becomes the first word in her hidden collection.

2. 1896; Lizzie

In September 1896, Esme wakes to find she has begun menstruating, and Lizzie explains the monthly bleeding to her.

3. A. Her father receives a letter from Ditte proposing the school.

In September 1896, Da receives a private letter from Ditte proposing that Esme attend Cauldshiels School for Young Ladies in Scotland.

4. Two wooden boxes containing letters—one from her late mother Lily, and one from Ditte.

In April 1891, Esme discovers these boxes in her father's wardrobe; the letters discuss the Dictionary's progress and Esme.

5. B. He dies after falling while climbing a mountain.

In August 1893, Esme learns that Mr. Mitchell died after a fall while climbing.

6. She keeps it hidden in her trunk.

When Dr. Murray searches for the missing “bondmaid” slip, Esme retrieves her trunk and finds the slip at the bottom, but she does not return it to him.

7. A. Tilda

Tilda is the actress who supplies the word “dollymop,” invites Esme to A Doll's House, and later joins the suffragettes.

8. She gives her up for adoption to Sarah and Philip Brooks.

After nursing the baby for several weeks, Esme hands her to Sarah; the Brooks later emigrate to South Australia with the child.

9. To preserve words that were discarded or neglected by the Dictionary, and to give them meaning and value.

Esme's collection grows from her desire to rescue slips that fall through the cracks, especially those reflecting women's and working-class experiences.

10. B. She is loyal to Esme and understands its importance.

Lizzie keeps the trunk safe without telling anyone, and later helps Esme sort the slips.

11. To give Esme an education and broaden her horizons beyond the Scriptorium.

Ditte's letter proposes the school, and she later arranges for Esme to attend Oxford High School after Cauldshiels proves harmful.

12. B. She does not love him and wants independence.

Esme tells Lizzie she does not want to marry Bill; she later chooses a life of work and scholarship instead.

13. To honor her work and express his love.

Gareth has the volume printed and bound, inscribing it on the back page; it is a gift that validates her collection of women's words.

14. B. The preservation of words that official lexicography ignores.

The trunk holds slips that were lost, discarded, or excluded from the OED, representing the voices and experiences left out of the official record.

15. It represents class and gender oppression, and the exclusion of certain words from the Dictionary.

Lizzie identifies with the definition (“a slave girl”), and the word's absence from the A–B volume highlights the fallibility and bias of the OED.

16. B. It is used to scratch “The Dictionary of Lost Words” into the trunk lid.

Esme uses Lizzie's hat pin to carve the title into the trunk, bending the pin in the process; the pin belonged to Lizzie's late mother.

17. Through the exclusion of words like “cunt,” “bondmaid,” and “lie-child,” and through the collection of women's oral and domestic vocabulary.

The novel shows how the Dictionary's reliance on written sources and male-dominated quotations systematically omits women's experiences.

18. By including oral words, slang, and words from working-class and women's speech, Esme's collection challenges the OED's claim to completeness and objectivity.

Her collection preserves words that the Dictionary rejects for lack of written sources, suggesting that authority in language is a matter of power.

19. B. Both are concerned with who gets to define and be represented.

The suffrage movement fights for women's political voice, while the Dictionary project decides which words and experiences are recorded; both are about visibility and agency.

20. Esme's work lives on through her daughter Megan, who speaks the word “bondmaid” at a lexicography convention, and through the trunk of lost words that she passes down.

The epilogue shows Megan Brooks delivering a lecture titled “The Dictionary of Lost Words,” carrying forward Esme's legacy of preserving marginalized language.

For more on the novel's themes and ending, see the book overview, questions and answers, and ending explained.