cacography

[ kuh-kog-ruh-fee ]
/ kəˈkɒg rə fi /

noun

bad handwriting; poor penmanship.
incorrect spelling.

Origin of cacography

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

OTHER WORDS FROM cacography

ca·cog·ra·pher, noun cac·o·graph·ic [kak-uh-graf-ik] /ˌkæk əˈgræf ɪk/, cac·o·graph·i·cal, adjective

Example sentences from the Web for cacography

  • He blows off his steam with such an eagerness that he forgets for a time, or nearly forgets, his cacography.

    Thackeray |Anthony Trollope
  • I am willing to lay the blame of these errata on my own cacography, rather than on the printer's back.

  • 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

British Dictionary definitions for cacography

cacography
/ (kæˈkɒɡrəfɪ) /

noun

bad handwriting Compare calligraphy
incorrect spelling Compare orthography

Derived forms of cacography

cacographer, noun cacographic (ˌkækəˈɡræfɪk) or cacographical, adjective