cacography

American  

[kuh-kog-ruh-fee] / kəˈkɒg rə fi /

noun

1. bad handwriting; poor penmanship.

2. incorrect spelling.

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cacography British  

/ ˌkækəˈɡræfɪk, kæˈkɒɡrəfɪ /

noun

1. bad handwriting Compare calligraphy

2. incorrect spelling Compare orthography

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Other Word Forms

• cacographer noun
• cacographic adjective
• cacographical adjective

Etymology

Origin of cacography

First recorded in 1570–80; caco- + -graphy

Example Sentences

If he owed to Smollett's Humphrey Clinker the form of his Up the Rhine, he has equalled Smollett in the narrative, in the variety of character, and in the admirable cacography of Martha Penny.

From English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction by Coppee, Henry

He blows off his steam with such an eagerness that he forgets for a time, or nearly forgets, his cacography.

From Thackeray by Trollope, Anthony

A letter more or less in a name was of no account in the cacography of those times.

From Claverhouse by Morris, Mowbray

Most lovely is the youthful hand of his eldest daughter: the cacography of her later years is, alas! something horrible.

From Joyce Morrell's Harvest The Annals of Selwick Hall by Holt, Emily Sarah

Some of Artemus Ward's effects were produced, by cacography or bad spelling, but there was genius in the wildly erratic way in which he handled even this rather low order of humor.

From Initial Studies in American Letters by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)