Stylograph

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A writing instrument with a fine metal point that draws ink onto paper ; an older kind of fountain pen fitted with a fine nib and a reservoir
2. A pen fitted with a narrow nib for precise lines, used for writing or drawing ; a historical variety of pen that feeds ink from an internal reservoir
3. An instrument for writing with a finely pointed nib ; a nineteenth-century type of pen that stores ink in a barrel and supplies it to the point

Etymology: "Stylograph" is built from two Greek-derived parts. The first, "style," comes from Latin "stylus," the pointed metal instrument Romans used to scratch letters into wax tablets, and the second, "-graph," comes from Greek "graphein," meaning "to write." Put together, the name describes a writing tool named for its point, the stylus, and the act of writing. The word belongs to a particular moment in pen design, when the fountain pen was becoming a practical everyday object. Rather than dipping a nib into an inkwell, a stylograph held its own supply of ink in a barrel and fed it steadily to a very fine point. The name thus carries the old stylus idea, a sharp point for making marks, into a machine that could write continuously without refilling.

Synonyms: stylographic pen