What is the difference between jibiki and jisho?

Question

I see both of these words used to describe dictionary.

Can someone tell me the difference between these two?

Answer 1

[字引]{じび}き sounds old-fashioned to me, although everyone (except very young children) would probably know what it means. I think I've heard very old people (like, over 80 years old?) use the word 字引き to refer to both J-J and E-J/J-E dictionaries.

I think [辞書]{じしょ} is the most common word to refer to dictionary. Most J-J/E-J/J-E dictionaries that I've seen are titled 「～～[辞典]{じてん}」, eg 『小学館プログレッシブ和英中辞典』『ジーニアス英和辞典（大修館書店）』『明鏡国語辞典（大修館書店）』 etc., but we usually refer to these dictionaries as 辞書 in daily conversation.

... But you'd still say [生]{い}き字引き, not 生き辞書, to mean "a walking dictionary".

Answer 2

I can't think of a time I have heard 字引 (jibiki) but looking at the characters it literally is just to 'Pull' or 'Draw' a character. Feels like it would be more suited for use of a Japanese person to look up the meaning of a Japanese character

Where as 辞書 (jisho) is more like 'Written Words/Expressions'. One could say it is more in tune to decoding other languages.

This is just my take one it... as I have not heard anyone use "jibiki" in the many years I have been speaking with native Japanese.

Answer 3

They both mean "dictionary".
According to the site below, 字引 is more "vulgar" (俗な言い方).
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/thsrs/11974/meaning/m0u/