Allographs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Forms of written characters that represent the same phoneme but differ in appearance or style
2. Variants of a letter or symbol used in different contexts or styles to convey the same sound
3. Different representations of a single grapheme, often seen in calligraphy or typography, that maintain the same meaning

Etymology: "Allographs" is simply the plural of "allograph", a noun meaning one of several alternate letter forms of the same letter, such as the two ways of writing a lowercase "g" or the different shapes a single letter takes in different scripts or hands. The singular is built from the Greek prefix "allo-", meaning "other" or "different", joined to "-graph", from Greek "graphein", "to write". Together they describe a written form that is other than the standard one. The pattern is a useful one to know. "Allo-" appears in words such as "allotrope", where one element exists in more than one structural form, and "allophone", a variant of a single speech sound. Each follows the same logic: one underlying unit, several recognised variants of it. An allograph is the written counterpart of that idea, a single letter identity expressed through different visible shapes.