noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
kə-lĭg'rə-fi
/kəˈlɪɡɹəfi/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:K AH0 L IH1 G R AH0 F IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The art or practice of writing letters and words in a decorative style; the letters and words so written.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Any such style of decorative writing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A document written in decorative style.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Examples
2004, Diana J, Mukpo, Carolyn Rose Gimian (editors), Chogyam Trungpa, The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa, Volume 7, page 169, Only a small number of Trungpa Rinpoche's calligraphies have been reproduced heretofore, some in very limited editions.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
beautiful handwriting
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: penmanship, chirography
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: handwriting, hand, script
History
Etymology
Borrowed from French calligraphie, from Ancient Greek καλλιγραφία (kalligraphía, literally “pretty writing”), from κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”) + γράφω (gráphō, “to draw”).
Across languages
Translations
100 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
bukurshkrim
— art of writing beautifully
Arabic:
خَطّ
(ḵaṭṭ)
— art of writing beautifully
Armenian:
գեղագրություն
(geġagrutʻyun)
— art of writing beautifully
Armenian:
վայելչագրություն
(vayelčʻagrutʻyun)
— art of writing beautifully
Asturian:
caligrafía
— art of writing beautifully
Belarusian:
калігра́фія
(kalihráfija)
— art of writing beautifully
Bulgarian:
калиграфия
(kaligrafija)
— art of writing beautifully
Bulgarian:
краснопис
(krasnopis)
— art of writing beautifully
Bulgarian:
пи́сане на ръка́
(písane na rǎká)
— art of writing beautifully
Catalan:
cal·ligrafia
— art of writing beautifully
Chinese Mandarin:
書法 /书法
(shūfǎ)
— art of writing beautifully
Chinese Mandarin:
筆法 /笔法
(bǐfǎ)
— art of writing beautifully
Chinese Mandarin:
書道 /书道
(shūdào)
— art of writing beautifully
Chinese Mandarin:
筆跡 /笔迹
(bǐjì)
— art of writing beautifully
Chinese Mandarin:
寫法 /写法
(xiěfǎ)
— art of writing beautifully
Corsican:
calligrafia
— art of writing beautifully
Corsican:
calligraffia
— art of writing beautifully
Czech:
kaligrafie
— art of writing beautifully
Czech:
krasopis
— art of writing beautifully
Danish:
kalligrafi
— art of writing beautifully
Dutch:
kalligrafie
— art of writing beautifully
Dutch:
schoonschrijven
— art of writing beautifully
Dutch:
schoonschrift
— art of writing beautifully
Dzongkha:
ཡིག་བཟོའི་རིག་རྩལ
(yig bzo'i rig rtsal)
— art of writing beautifully
Esperanto:
kaligrafio
— art of writing beautifully
Faroese:
fagurskrift
— art of writing beautifully
Faroese:
skreytskrift
— art of writing beautifully
Finnish:
kalligrafia
— art of writing beautifully
Finnish:
kaunokirjoitus
— art of writing beautifully
French:
calligraphie
— art of writing beautifully
French:
chirographie
— art of writing beautifully
Friulian:
caligrafie
— art of writing beautifully
Galician:
caligrafía
— art of writing beautifully
Georgian:
კალიგრაფია
(ḳaligrapia)
— art of writing beautifully
Georgian:
სუფთა წერა
(supta c̣era)
— art of writing beautifully
German:
Kalligraphie
— art of writing beautifully
German:
Schönschreibkunst
— art of writing beautifully
German:
Schönschreiben
— art of writing beautifully
German:
Schönschrift
— art of writing beautifully
German:
gute Handschrift
— art of writing beautifully
Greek:
καλλιγραφία
(kalligrafía)
— art of writing beautifully
Hebrew:
כתיבה תמה
(ktiva tama)
— art of writing beautifully
Hebrew:
קליגרפיה
(kaligráfya)
— art of writing beautifully
Hindi:
सुलेख
(sulekh)
— art of writing beautifully
Hungarian:
kalligráfia
— art of writing beautifully
Icelandic:
skrautskrift
— art of writing beautifully
Icelandic:
skrautritun
— art of writing beautifully
Indonesian:
kaligrafi
— art of writing beautifully
Irish:
callagrafaíocht
— art of writing beautifully
Italian:
calligrafia
— art of writing beautifully
Italian:
chirografia
— art of writing beautifully
Japanese:
書道
(shodō)
— art of writing beautifully
Japanese:
書法
(shohō)
— art of writing beautifully
Japanese:
カリグラフィー
(karigurafī)
— art of writing beautifully
Japanese:
習字
(shūji)
— art of writing beautifully
Kazakh:
құсни жазу
(qūsni jazu)
— art of writing beautifully
Khmer:
ការសរសេរអក្សរផ្ចង់
(kaa sɑɑsee ʼɑksɑɑ phcɑng)
— art of writing beautifully
Khmer:
អក្សរផ្ចង់
(aksɑɑ pcɑŋ)
— art of writing beautifully
Korean:
달필
(dalpil)
— art of writing beautifully
Korean:
서법
(seobeop)
— art of writing beautifully
Korean:
서예
(seoye)
— art of writing beautifully
Latvian:
kaligrāfija
— art of writing beautifully
Lithuanian:
kaligrafija
— art of writing beautifully
Malay:
kaligrafi
— art of writing beautifully
Malay:
khat
— art of writing beautifully
Malay:
kirografi
— art of writing beautifully
Māori:
tuhi rerehua
— art of writing beautifully
Māori:
tuhiwhakairo
— art of writing beautifully
Norwegian Bokmål:
kalligrafi
— art of writing beautifully
Norwegian Bokmål:
skrivekunst
— art of writing beautifully
Norwegian Nynorsk:
kalligrafi
— art of writing beautifully
Norwegian Nynorsk:
skrivekunst
— art of writing beautifully
Persian:
خوشنویسی
(xošnevisi)
— art of writing beautifully
Persian:
خطاطی
(xattâti)
— art of writing beautifully
Polish:
kaligrafia
— art of writing beautifully
Portuguese:
caligrafia
— art of writing beautifully
Portuguese:
quirografia
— art of writing beautifully
Romanian:
caligrafie
— art of writing beautifully
Romanian:
chirografie
— art of writing beautifully
Russian:
чистописа́ние
(čistopisánije)
— art of writing beautifully
Russian:
каллигра́фия
(kalligráfija)
— art of writing beautifully
Serbo-Croatian:
калиграфија
— art of writing beautifully
Serbo-Croatian:
краснопис
— art of writing beautifully
Serbo-Croatian:
красопис
— art of writing beautifully
Serbo-Croatian:
kaligrafija
— art of writing beautifully
Serbo-Croatian:
krasnopis
— art of writing beautifully
Serbo-Croatian:
krasopis
— art of writing beautifully
Spanish:
caligrafía
— art of writing beautifully
Spanish:
calografía
— art of writing beautifully
Swedish:
kalligrafi
— art of writing beautifully
Tagalog:
sulat-kamay
— art of writing beautifully
Tamil:
வனப்பெழுத்து
(vaṉappeḻuttu)
— art of writing beautifully
Thai:
อักษรวิจิตร
(àk-sɔ̌ɔ-rá-wí-jìt)
— art of writing beautifully
Turkish:
kaligrafi
— art of writing beautifully
Ukrainian:
калігра́фія
(kalihráfija)
— art of writing beautifully
Uyghur:
خەتتاتلىق
(xettatliq)
— art of writing beautifully
