micrographia

[mahy-kruh-graf-ee-uh]

noun

1. minute handwriting.

2. Pathology.,  a neurological condition, usually symptomatic of parkinsonism, in which the handwriting becomes progressively smaller.

Word History and Origins

Origin of micrographia¹

From New Latin; micro-, -graph, -ia

Example Sentences

In his 1665 book Micrographia the British polymath Robert Hooke included his sketch of what looked like a flower garden on spindly stalks.

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This movie wasn’t alone, before had come Cosmic Zoom by the National Film Board of Canada in 1968, and before that was Cosmic View by Kees Boeke in 1957, and the canny Robert Hooke arguably had them all beat with Micrographia back in 1665.

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In Micrographia, Hooke also warns against misinformation stemming from faulty perception: “The Understanding is to order all the inferior services of the lower Faculties; but yet it is to do this only as a lawful Master, and not as a Tyrant.”

Read more on Nature

He was also talented at micrographia, the art of writing passages that were, like him, infinitesimally small.

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Several works depict architectural facades framing passages of micrographia.

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