charactery

[kar-ik-tuh-ree, -tree]

noun

the use of characters or symbols for the expression of meaning.
characters or symbols collectively.

Origin of charactery

First recorded in 1580–90; character + -y³

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for charactery

Historical Examples of charactery

II.125 charactery: "writing by characters or strange marks."
The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
Here is a shell; 'tis pearly blank to me, Nor mark'd with any sign or charactery– Canst thou read aught?
Endymion
John Keats
So in Keats: "Before high-piled books in charactery Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain."
The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare

British Dictionary definitions for charactery

charactery

noun plural -teries archaic

the use of symbols to express thoughts
the group of symbols so used

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