cacography

[ kuh-kog-ruh-fee ]

noun

1. bad handwriting; poor penmanship.
2. incorrect spelling.

cacography

/ ˌkækəˈɡræfɪk; kæˈkɒɡrəfɪ /

noun

1. bad handwriting Compare calligraphy
2. incorrect spelling Compare orthography

Derived Forms

• cacographic, adjective
• caˈcographer, noun

Other Words From

• ca·cogra·pher noun
• cac·o·graph·ic [kak-, uh, -, graf, -ik], caco·graphi·cal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cacography¹

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

Example Sentences

Most lovely is the youthful hand of his eldest daughter: the cacography of her later years is, alas! something horrible.

From Project Gutenberg

Some of Artemus Ward's effects were produced by cacography or bad spelling, but there was genius in the wildly erratic way in which he handled even this rather low order of humor.

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

A letter more or less in a name was of no account in the cacography of those times.

From Project Gutenberg