Enchorial

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɛnˈkɔː.ɹɪ.əl/

Definitions

1. Pertaining to the style of everyday writing or script utilized by the general public, relating to the common language expressions specific to a nation, and distinguishing informal communication from more formalized scripts
2. Concerning the common script style typically employed by non-specialists in daily writing tasks
3. Associated with the informal handwriting form that represents the everyday penmanship of a nation's people

Etymology: The adjective "enchorial" comes from the Ancient Greek "enkhōrios," meaning "rural" or "in or of the country," itself built from "khōra," "country" or "land." That rural sense is a long way from the meaning English gives it, which is about writing. The link runs through a specialised scholarly usage: "enchorial" is the term for the everyday script of ancient Egypt, the simplified form of writing used for ordinary business and records rather than for temples and monuments, where the word's country-dwelling sense reflects the idea of a script belonging to the people of the land. Applied in this way, the word now describes handwriting that belongs to a nation's ordinary people, set apart from formal or monumental letterforms. Its Greek roots remain visible in the "khōra" element, which also appears in words for regions and places, so the word keeps a faint trace of its original geographical meaning.

Synonyms: local, native