See also alphabet; authors; books; language; literature; manuscripts; reading; spelling.

acrology 1. the use of a symbol to represent phonetically the initial sound (syllable or letter) of the name of an object, as A is the flrst sound of Greek alpha. 2. the use of the name of the object as the name of the symbol representing its initial sound, as A in Greek is called alpha “ox.” Also called acrophony. —acrologic, adj. autography the act of writing something by hand. —autographer, n. —autographic, adj. —autographically, adv. bibliotics the art or science of analyzing handwriting, especially that of manuscripts with the purpose of establishing their authorship or authenticity. —bibliotist, n. —bibliotic, adj. brachygraphy an abbreviated writing; shorthand. —brachygraphic, adj. cacography 1. bad handwriting. Cf. calligraphy. 2. the possession of poor spelling skills. See also orthography. —cacographer, n. —cacographic, cacographical, adj. calligraphy 1. the art of beautiful penmanship. 2. handwriting in general. 3. good handwriting skills. Cf. cacography. 4. a script of a high aesthetic value produced by brush, especially that of Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic origin. —calligrapher, calligraphist, n. —calligraphic, calligraphical, adj. chirography 1. the penmanship of a person, especially when used in an important document, as in an apostolic letter written and signed by the pope. 2. the art of beautiful penmanship; calligraphy. —chirograph, chirographer, n. —chirographic, chirographical, adj. chrysography 1. the art of writing in inks containing gold or silver in suspension. 2. the gold writing produced in this way. —chrysographer, n. cryptography 1. the science or study of secret writing, especially code and cipher systems. 2. the procedures and methods of making and using secret languages, as codes or ciphers. —cryptographer, cryptographist, n. —cryptographic, cryptographical, cryptographal, adj. curiologics, curiology the representation of things or sounds by means of their pictures instead of by symbols or words, as in hieroglyphics or a rebus. —curiologic, curiological, adj. engrossment 1. a document or other piece of writing in a large, bold hand. 2. a formal document, as a proclamation, suitably written in a calligraphic hand and often illuminated. —engrosser, n. grammalogue Shorthand, a word that is represented by a single symbol or character. graphanalysis the reading of character or personality from a person’s handwriting. Cf. graphology. —graphanalyst, n. graphemics Linguistics. the study of systems of writing and their relationship to the systems of the languages they represent. Also called graphonomy. —graphemic, adj. graphiology the art or craft of writing or delineating. —graphiologist, n. graphology the study of handwriting, especially as regarded as an expression of character. Cf. graphanalysis. —graphologist, n. —graphologic, graphological, adj. graphomania an obsession with writing. graphonomy graphology. graphopathology Psychology. the study of handwriting as a symptom of mental or emotional disorder. —graphopathologist, n. —graphopathological, adj. graphophobia a dislike for writing. graphorrhea 1. writing in excessive amounts, sometimes incoherently. 2. extreme wordiness in writing. graptomancy a form of divination involving the examination of a person’s handwriting. haplography the accidental omission in writing or copying of one or more adjacent and similar letters, syllables, words, or lines, as tagme for tagmeme. hieroglyphology the study of hieroglyphic writing, or a system employing a conventionalized pictographic script, esp. that used by the ancient Egyptians. —hieroglyphologist, n. hierogram sacred writing or a sacred character or symbol. —hierogrammatist, n. —hierogrammatic, hierogrammatical, adj. hierography Rare. sacred writing; hierograms and the art of writing them. —hierographer, n. —hierographic, hierographical, adj. homography the process of using a distinct character to represent each sound. —homographic, adj. iconomaticism a form of writing regarded as midway between picture writing, as hieroglyphics, and phonetic writing in which the names of the symbols are not the names of the objects they depict but phonetic elements only. —iconomatic, adj. ideography a form of writing in which a written symbol represents an object rather than a word or speech sound. —ideographic, ideographical, adj. isography Rare. the imitation of another person’s handwriting. —isographic, isographical, adj. lipography the avoidance of a certain letter or syllable in a text. —lipogram, n. literation the act or process of representing with letters. logogram a sign or symbol used to represent a word, as $ for dollar. Also logograph. —logographic, adj. logography a method of reporting spoken language in longhand, esp. one using several reporters taking down a few words in succession. —logographer, n. —logographic, adj. macrography abnormally large handwriting, often the result of a nervous disorder in the writer. micrograph an apparatus used for miniature writing or drawing. —micrography, n. micrography the art or technique of writing with extremely small characters. —micrographic, adj. mogigraphy Pathology. physical difficulty in writing. —mogigraphic, adj. monogram two or more letters, as initials, formed into a design to be placed on clothing, notepaper, etc., or as a crest. See also ornamentation. —monogrammatic, monogrammatical, adj. mutacism mytacism. mytacism excessive use of or fondness for, or incorrect use of the letter m and the sound it represents. Also mutacism. neography Rare. a new or novel way of writing. noctograph a writing frame designed for use by blind people. nomancy a form of divination involving the examination of letters, possibly from a graphological standpoint. Also onomancy. ogham, ogam 1. an alphabetical script originally used for inscriptions in the Irish language from the 5th to the 10th centuries. 2. any of the 20 characters of this script. 3. an inscription in this script. —oghamist, ogamist, n. onomancy, onomomancy nomancy. opisthography 1. the practice of writing on both sides of the object used as a surface, as papyrus or stone. 2. the writing done in this fashion. —opisthography, n. paleography 1. ancient forms of writing, as in inscriptions, documents, and manuscripts. 2. the study of ancient writings, including decipherment, translation, and determination of age and date. —paleographer, palaeographer, n. —paleographic, palaeographic, adj. paraph a flourish or other embellishment made after a signature, either as idiosyncrasy or to protect against forgery. penmanship 1. the art or skill of handwriting or writing with a pen. 2. a particular person’s manner or characteristic style of handwriting. phonogram a symbol or character, as in shorthand, that represents a word, syllable, or sound. phonography 1. any system of phonetic shorthand, as that of Pitman. 2. phonetic spelling, writing, or shorthand. —phonographer, phonographist, n. —phonographic, adj. phraseogram a character or symbol, as in shorthand, that represents a phrase. Cf. phraseograph. phraseograph a phrase that can be represented by a phraseogram. Cf. phraseogram. pictography the use of pictorial symbols to communicate; picture writing with symbols that may be either ideographic or phonetic in function. —pictograph, n. —pictographic, adj. runecraft the knowledge of runes and their interpretation; skill or expertise with runes. runology the study of runes and runic writing. —runologist, n. —runological, adj. scotograph an instrument for writing when unable to see. scribblement 1. illegible handwriting. 2. the work of an inferior or untalented author. scribomania a mania for writing scription Rare. handwriting, especially a particular style of handwriting such as that of a particular person or period. scrivenery the art and practice of the scrivener or copyist. —scrivener, n. sematography the use of symbols other than letters in writing. —sematographic, adj. semeiography 1. a system of symbolic notation. Also semiography. —semeiographic, semeiographical, adj. sphenography Rare. the art of writing and deciphering cuneiform characters. —sphenographer, sphenographist, n. —sphenographic, adj. stelography 1. the practice of chiseling commemorative inscriptions in pillars, tablets, and stelae. 2. any inscription so done. —stelographic, adj. stenography the art of writing in shorthand. —stenographer, stenographist, n. —stenographic, stenographical, adj. stenotypy a phonographic shorthand in which alphabetic letters, produced by hand or a special machine, are used to represent words and phrases. —stenotypist, n. —stenotypic, adj. stylography the art of drawing, writing, or engraving with a stylus or similar instrument. —stylographic, stylographical, adj. syllabary 1. a table of syllables, as might be used for teaching a language. 2. a system of characters or symbols representing syllables instead of individual sounds. Also syllabarium. syllabism 1. the use of characters in writing that represent syllables rather than individual sounds, as in the Cherokee syllabary. 2. a division of a word into syllables. tachygraphy 1. the ancient Greek and Roman shorthand systems. 2. cursive writing. —tachygrapher, tachygraphist, n. —tachygraphic, tachygraphical, adj. telautography the transmission of writing or drawing such that the movements of the receiving pen copy those of the transmitting pen or pencil, yielding a facsimile reproduction at the receiving end. —telautograph, n. —telautographic, adj. uncial a form of large, rounded script found in Latin and Greek manuscripts from the 3rd or 4th century until the 10th century. —uncial, adj.