Charlton Laird (1901—1984) was an American linguist and writer. He is probably best known for his books elucidating English for the layman and for his contributions to dictionaries and thesauruses. He wrote numerous other works of non-fiction and fiction, including two novels. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Iowa and went on to Columbia, Stanford, and Yale. He taught at Drake University and the University of Nevada at Reno.