Stylographic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or produced by a stylus, especially a fine pen used for writing or engraving on a surface
2. Describing something made with or pertaining to an instrument that scratches or writes on a surface with a pointed tip
3. Of or concerning a pointed writing tool used for inscribing marks, such as an old-fashioned or fountain-style pen

Etymology: "Stylographic" describes anything made with a stylograph, a pen-like instrument with a fine pointed tip that scratches or writes on a surface. The stylograph is itself the older word, and its roots reach back to the Greek "stylos," a pillar or pointed writing implement, which the Romans carried into Latin as "stilus," the sharpened rod used to scratch letters onto wax tablets. That ancient tool, used for writing in wax, is the ancestor of every modern pointed writing instrument described by this family of words. The word is a straightforward formation: "stylography," the art or practice of writing with such an instrument, plus the adjective ending "-ic." That suffix passed from Latin "-icus" through Old French "-ique" into Middle English as "-ik," and English later settled on the "-ic" spelling. Adding "-ic" to a noun to make a describing word is one of the most common moves in English, so the adjective follows naturally from the noun.