Lexicography is the making of dictionaries. It is distinguished from lexicology as follows:

• The object of lexicology is the lexicon; its task is to investigate the structure of the lexicon. Lexicology is, thus, part of theoretical or descriptive (as opposed to applied) linguistics.
• The object of lexicography is the dictionary; its task is to make dictionaries. Lexicography is, thus, part of applied linguistics.

Like other disciplines of applied science, lexicography could also be called a practical enterprise if it be understood that it is not purely practical (like, e.g., the writing of newspaper articles), but theoretically based, viz. based on lexicology.

There is also a discipline of linguistics called metalexicography (or theory of lexicography). Its object is lexicography. While lexicography makes dictionaries, metalexicography describes and prescribes how lexicography proceeds. It includes the history of lexicography.