handwriting

Etymology

It is formed from English hand + writing,^[2][3][4][5] appearing in late Middle English as hand writyng.^[6] Etymonline takes it as a translation of Latin manuscriptum, and the OED and the Shorter Oxford compare that word and Hellenistic Greek χειρόγραφον (kheirógraphon).^[3][2][5] Before it, English used hand alone for a style of writing, and Old English had handgewrit (“handwriting; a writing”).^[3] The word later gave the back-formation handwrite.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Writing by hand, as an action or practice: 1421, in a convocation record printed by G. W. Kitchin, in the OED's revised entry of 2013.^[2] Etymonline likewise has the early 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first use was the plain activity.^[2] By 1599, in Heywood's Edward IV, the word also named the particular style of one person's writing.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave only this sense, "a cast or form of writing peculiar to each hand", with a line from Shakespeare.^[7] Meanwhile, from 1534 in the revised Tyndale version of Colossians until 1791, it could also mean a written document, a sense the OED marks as obsolete.^[2] The biblical account in Daniel 5 of the writing on the wall of Belshazzar's palace gave the phrase the handwriting on the wall, an omen of doom.^[4] From 1827, in Scott, the word was extended to any distinctive style or identifying mark, as of a person's work.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1421 – writing done by hand.^[2]
• 1534 – a written document (obsolete by 1791).^[2]
• 1599 – the style of writing of a particular person.^[2]
• 1827 – figurative, a distinctive style or identifying feature.^[2]
• 1840s – the back-formation handwrite.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Writing done by hand with a pen or pencil, rather than typed or printed.^[8][4][2]
2. The form of such writing that is peculiar to one person: The note was unmistakably in his aunt's handwriting.^[8][4][2]
3. Something written by hand; a manuscript.^[4]
4. A distinctive style or identifying feature of someone's work.^[2][5]
5. the handwriting on the wall: a sign of coming doom; an omen.^[4]

Related words

• handwrite
• hand
• writing
• manuscript
• chirograph

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins