Calligraphy

//kəˈlɪɡɹəfi// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The art or practice of writing letters and words in a decorative style; the letters and words so written. uncountable

    "This paper will explore the role of calligraphy on three royal mosques built during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (1628-1658):[…]."

  2. 2
    beautiful handwriting wordnet
  3. 3
    Any such style of decorative writing. countable

    "Around the corner, at Goedhuis, among more contemporary calligraphies, the fat and fuzzy brushwork of Zeng Yizeng (born 1973) stands out."

  4. 4
    A document written in decorative style. countable

    "2004, Diana J, Mukpo, Carolyn Rose Gimian (editors), Chogyam Trungpa, The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa, Volume 7, page 169, Only a small number of Trungpa Rinpoche's calligraphies have been reproduced heretofore, some in very limited editions."

Synonyms

All synonyms
chirographychirographypenmanshippenmanshipabstract artart

Example

More examples

"Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation."

Etymology

Borrowed from French calligraphie, from Ancient Greek καλλιγραφία (kalligraphía, literally “pretty writing”), from κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”) + γράφω (gráphō, “to draw”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.