heterography

American  

[het-uh-rog-ruh-fee] / ˌhɛt əˈrɒg rə fi /

noun

1. spelling different from that in current use.

2. the use of the same letter or combination of letters to represent different sounds, as, in English, the use of s in sit and easy.

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heterography British  

/ ˌhɛtərəʊˈɡræfɪk, ˌhɛtəˈrɒɡrəfɪ /

noun

1. the phenomenon of different letters or sequences of letters representing the same sound in different words, as for example -ight and -ite in blight and bite

2. any writing system in which this phenomenon occurs

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Other Word Forms

• heterographic adjective
• heterographical adjective

Etymology

Origin of heterography

First recorded in 1775–85; hetero- + -graphy

Example Sentences

Heterography, het-e-rog′ra-fi, n. heterogeneous spelling.—adj.

From Project Gutenberg

The good mother--had she not endeared herself to the modern reader by the affectionate gentleness and the quaint glimpses of domestic life that her family letters reveal--would be irresistible by the ingeniously bad spelling in which she reveled, transgressing even the wide limits then allowed to feminine heterography.

From Project Gutenberg

Both are highly characteristic of the writer and of his quaint spellings—a heterography not more odd than that of the postmaster of Shawnee County, Missouri, who, returning his account to the General Office, wrote, "I hearby sertify that the four going A-Counte is as nere Rite as I now how to make It, if there is any mistake it is not Dun a purpers."

From Project Gutenberg