Word of the Day(Merriam Webster Dictionary)

January 13, 2016

chirography • \kye-RAH-gruh-fee\  • noun

1 : handwriting, penmanship

2 : calligraphy

Examples:

"This envelope had the air of anofficial record of some period longpast, when clerks engrossed theirstiff and formal chirography onmore substantial materials thanat present." — NathanielHawthorne, The Scarlet Letter,1850

"The stone bore confusingetchings: Arabic numeralscoupled with Roman; the letter 'H' in ancient Spanish chirography; apuzzling mass of ovoid figures,circles and rectangles; and theweblike drawing that gave it itsname." — Evan Moore, TheHouston Chronicle, 6 May 2001

Did you know?

Though some might argue thathandwriting is a dying art in the age of electronic communication,this fancy word for it persists. Theroot graph means "writing" andappears in many common Englishwords such as autograph andgraphite. The lesser-known rootchir, or chiro-, comes from aGreek word meaning "hand" andoccurs in words such aschiromancy ("the art of palmreading") and enchiridion ("ahandbook or manual"), as well aschiropractic. Chirography firstappeared in English in the 17thcentury and probably derivedfrom chirograph, a now rare wordreferring to any of various legaldocuments. Chirography shouldnot be confused withchoreography, which refers to thecomposition and arrangement ofdances.