Lipogram

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A composition intentionally avoiding the use of one or more specific letters of the alphabet ; a literary work crafted with the constraint of omitting particular characters ; a text deliberately written without certain chosen symbols
2. A writing technique in which selected alphabetic characters are excluded ; a text, such as a poem or story, purposely leaving out designated letters ; a constrained literary form where specific symbols never appear
3. A form of writing where the author consciously refrains from including certain letters ; a piece created to omit one or more targeted characters ; literary output developed by systematically avoiding specified symbols

Etymology: The word is a compound built from two Ancient Greek elements: "leípō," meaning "to leave" or "to leave out," and "grámma," meaning "letter." Together they produced "leipogramma," a term for a text deliberately written while omitting one or more letters of the alphabet. The Greek form is the basis of the English "lipogram," which took shape in the 18th century, when scholars needed a name for this kind of verbal game. The best-known example of the practice is a whole novel. Georges Perec's "La Disparition" (1969) avoids the letter "e" entirely, the most common letter in French, and he sustained that constraint across roughly 300 pages. The English translation, "A Void" by Gilbert Adair, carries out the same trick with the letter "e" in English. The word itself is a useful example of how English builds scholarly terms: a Greek-derived compound, shaped in the modern era, describing an ancient-style pastime of literary play.

Synonyms: constrained writing, restricted writing