handwriting

See also: hand-writing

English

A handwritten list of Anglican bishops of England, probably copied from a 17th-century book called Angliæ Notitia, or The Present State of England

Alternative forms

• hand-writing (archaic)

Etymology

hand +‎ writing

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhændɹaɪtɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hand‧writ‧ing

Noun

handwriting (usually uncountable, plural handwritings)

1. The act or process of writing done with the hand, rather than typed or word-processed.
2. Text that was written by hand.
3. The characteristic writing of a particular person.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 284–285:

     He took up the letter: well did he know the delicate and graceful handwriting; but he saw that the characters were tremulous, and it had obviously been written at different times.

   • 1895, F. Marion Crawford, Taquisara‎^[1]:

     It was still early in the morning when Elettra brought her a letter, bearing the postmark of the city, and addressed in one of those small, clear handwritings which seem naturally to belong to scholars and students.

   • 1893, Joseph B. Lightfoot, Essays on "Supernatural Religion"‎^[2]:

     In some handwritings of the seventh or eighth century, where the letters have a round form, the substitution of OT for EG would be far from difficult.

   • 1914, P. S. Allen, The Age of Erasmus‎^[3]:

     Great libraries are only just beginning to gather up the manuscript minutiae which their books contain; to identify handwritings; to decipher monograms; to collect facts.

4. (by extension) A characteristic trait or hallmark by which somebody may be recognised.
   • 2013, Chris Payne, High Crimes And Low Stakes: Chris Payne, page 259:

     And, my friend believes, Armedov is getting paid by...? Yes, our friends at Langley! CIA handwriting all over it, he reckons!

   • 2016, Nilgin Yusuf, Fashion's Front Line, page 112:

     The show needs to portray the designer's handwriting but it should also be innovative too.

Synonyms

• (the act or process of writing done by hand): longhand
• (text written by hand): manuscript
• (characteristic writing of a person): chirography, autograph, penmanship

Derived terms

• handwriting on the wall
• the handwriting is on the wall

 

Related terms

• handwritten
• handwrite
• handwrit

Translations

act or process of writing with the hand

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 手寫／手写 (zh) (shǒuxiě)

• Dutch: handschrift (nl) n
• Finnish: käsinkirjoitus
• French: écriture de main
• German: Handschrift (de) f
• Greek: γραφή (el) f (grafí)
• Hungarian: kézírás (hu)
• Indonesian: bekas tangan (id)
• Irish: lámhscríbhneoireacht f, scríbhneoireacht f, scríobh m
• Italian: scrittura (it) f, grafia (it) f
• Japanese: 手書き (ja) (てがき, tegaki)
• Korean: 육필 (yukpil)
• Latvian: rokraksts m
• Lithuanian: rašysena f
• Malay: penulisan tangan
• Norman: êcrituthe f
• Persian: دست‌نویسی (dast-nevisi)
• Portuguese: manuscritura f
• Romanian: scriere de mână, scris de mână
• Russian: собственнору́чная за́пись f (sobstvennorúčnaja zápisʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: rȕkopīs (sh) m
• Spanish: escritura manuscrita f
• Swedish: handskrift (sv) c
• Tagalog: sulat (tl), sulat-kamay
• Yiddish: האַנטשריפֿט f (hantshrift)

characteristic writing of a particular person

• Arabic: خَطّ يَد m (ḵaṭṭ yad), خَطّ (ar) m (ḵaṭṭ)
• Armenian: ձեռագիր (hy) (jeṙagir)
• Belarusian: по́чырк m (póčyrk)
• Bulgarian: по́черк m (póčerk)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 筆跡／笔迹 (zh) (bǐjì)

• Danish: håndskrift c
• Dutch: handschrift (nl) n
• Esperanto: manskribo
• Finnish: käsiala (fi)
• French: écriture (fr) f
• Georgian: ხელწერა (xelc̣era)
• German: Handschrift (de) f
• Greek: γραφή (el) f (grafí), γράψιμο (el) n (grápsimo), γραφικός χαρακτήρας (el) m (grafikós charaktíras)
• Hebrew: כְּתָב יָד (he) m (ktav yad)
• Hungarian: kézírás (hu)
• Icelandic: rithönd f
• Italian: calligrafia (it) f
• Japanese: 筆跡 (ja) (ひっせき, hisseki)
• Korean: 필적 (ko) (piljeok)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەسوخەت (desuxet)

• Latin: chirographum
• Malayalam: കൈയക്ഷരം (kaiyakṣaraṁ)
• Persian: دست‌خط (dast-xat)
• Polish: pismo (pl) n
• Portuguese: caligrafia (pt) f, letra (pt) f
• Romanian: caligrafie (ro) sg or f
• Russian: по́черк (ru) m (póčerk)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рукопис m

  Roman: rukopis (sh) m

• Spanish: letra (es) f
• Swedish: handstil (sv) c
• Tagalog: sulat (tl), sulat-kamay
• Thai: ลายมือ (th) (laai-mʉʉ)
• Ukrainian: по́черк m (póčerk)
• Vietnamese: chữ viết tay
• Volapük: penät (vo)
• Yiddish: האַנטשריפֿט f (hantshrift)
• Zulu: isandla (zu) class 7/8

text written by hand

• Armenian: ձեռագիր (hy) (jeṙagir)
• Bulgarian: ръкопи́с (bg) m (rǎkopís)
• Finnish: käsin kirjoitettu teksti
• Georgian: ხელნაწერი (ka) (xelnac̣eri)
• Greek: γραπτό (el) n (graptó), γραφή (el) f (grafí)
• Hungarian: kézzel írott szöveg, kézírásos szöveg, kézirat (hu)
• Latvian: rokraksts m
• Malayalam: കൈയക്ഷരം (kaiyakṣaraṁ)
• Maori: tuhi-ā-ringa
• Polish: rękopis (pl) m
• Portuguese: manuscrito (pt) m
• Russian: ру́копись (ru) f (rúkopisʹ)
• Swedish: handskrift (sv) c
• Tagalog: sulating-kamay
• Zulu: isandla (zu) class 7/8

See also

• cursive

Verb

handwriting

1. present participle and gerund of handwrite