calligraphy

noun

cal·​lig·​ra·​phy kə-ˈli-grə-fē 

1

a

: artistic, stylized, or elegant handwriting or lettering

b

: the art of producing such writing

2

: penmanship

3

: an ornamental line in drawing or painting

calligraphic

ˌka-lə-ˈgra-fik 

adjective

calligraphically

ˌka-lə-ˈgra-fi-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Did you know?

Kalli- is a Greek root meaning "beautiful", and "beautiful" in the case of calligraphy means artistic, stylized, and elegant. Calligraphy has existed in many cultures, including Indian, Persian, and Islamic cultures; Arabic puts a particularly high value on beautiful script, and in East Asia calligraphy has long been considered a major art. Calligraphers in the West use pens with wide nibs, with which they produce strokes of widely differing width within a single letter.

Synonyms

• handwriting
• longhand
• manuscript
• penmanship
• script

Examples of calligraphy in a Sentence

she specializes in scrollwork with beautiful calligraphy

Recent Examples on the Web

The Shanghai event featured installations and creations by Chinese calligraphy artist Xu Bing, A$AP Rocky, Rick Owens and the Chinese multidisciplinary artist LuLu Li. —Samantha Conti, WWD, 6 Dec. 2024

It is known for its distinctive vivid blue or indigo pages, silver decoration and gold calligraphy. —Matt Robison, Newsweek, 20 Nov. 2024

Fritz, meanwhile, has seen a 200% bump in web traffic compared to the same period last year, and says she's already sold out a quarter of her Penny Post calligraphy classes for next year. —Mimi Montgomery, Axios, 23 Oct. 2024

Enshrining words in sacred objects such as the Torah or giving them visual presence through Quranic calligraphy, Jews and Muslims give language the heft of a stone statue that can hold the breath of amalgamation and distillation with the grace of Venus or Vishnu. —Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

French or Greek; French calligraphie, from Greek kalligraphia, from kalli- beautiful (from kallos beauty) + -graphia -graphy

First Known Use

1590, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Kids Definition

calligraphy

noun

cal·​lig·​ra·​phy kə-ˈlig-rə-fē 

1

a

: beautiful handwriting

b

: the art of producing such handwriting

2

: penmanship sense 2

calligrapher

-rə-fər

noun