Stylography

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The craft of producing writing or drawing by hand with a stylus or fine pen ; an instrument of pen-like design used to apply ink to paper
2. Handwriting or inscription carried out with a fine point, as in the historic practice of marking wax or clay ; a slender pen that delivers ink for drawing or script
3. The technique of forming characters with a pointed implement ; a sharp-nibbed writing tool that lays down ink in a controlled line

Etymology: "Stylography" is built from "style," which in Latin meant a pointed writing instrument, and the Greek suffix "-graphy," meaning writing or the process of writing. The "style" of the compound refers to the stylus, the sharp tool that ancient scribes used to cut marks into wax tablets. Because the stylus was the implement of writing itself, the word's first sense was the craft of writing with such a tool. The word's meaning then moved from the instrument toward the act of writing, and from there toward the manner of a person's writing. In its everyday English use, "stylography" names the art or practice of writing with a stylus, and it carries the same sense as the broader idea of the handwriting or manner that marks an individual's composition.