The history of lexicography in Vietnam is chronicled from early Chinese and missionary scholarship through the colonial period (1884-1946), the war years (1946-1954), the partition period (1954-1975), and the post-1975 period. The evolution of romanization, political-linguistic influences, native scholarship in lexicography, and dictionary types are discussed, and successive tendencies in monolingual and multilingual dictionary development are highlighted. (MSE)