cacography

[kuh-kog-ruh-fee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cacography ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

bad handwriting; poor penmanship.

incorrect spelling.

Origin of cacography

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

Related formsca·cog·ra·pher, nouncac·o·graph·ic

[kak-uh-graf-ik] /ˌkæk əˈgræf ɪk/, cac·o·graph·i·cal, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cacography

graffiti, cacography, graffito, hieroglyphics

Examples from the Web for cacography

Historical Examples of cacography

A letter more or less in a name was of no account in the cacography of those times.
Claverhouse
Mowbray Morris
Most lovely is the youthful hand of his eldest daughter: the cacography of her later years is, alas!
Joyce Morrell's Harvest
Emily Sarah Holt
I am willing to lay the blame of these errata on my own cacography, rather than on the printer's back.
Notes and Queries, Number 185, May 14, 1853
Various
He blows off his steam with such an eagerness that he forgets for a time, or nearly forgets, his cacography.
Thackeray
Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for cacography

cacography

noun

bad handwritingCompare calligraphy

incorrect spellingCompare orthography

Derived Formscacographer, nouncacographic (ˌkækəˈɡræfɪk) or cacographical, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012