Standard Lemma guide

paleography

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.

  • UK: /ˌpalɪˈɒɡɹəfi/
  • UK: /ˌpeɪlɪˈɒɡɹəfi/
  • General-American: /ˌpeɪliˈɑɡɹəfi/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒɡɹəfi

1

noun

Meaning 1

The study of old or ancient forms of writing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Ancient scripts or forms of writing themselves, as uncial, scriptio continua, or methods of using papyrus scrolls.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Paleogeography.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the study of ancient forms of writing (and the deciphering of them)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: archeology, archaeology

Narrower terms: epigraphy

History

Etymology

From paleo- + -graphy; imitating Latin palaeographia for the first sense and French paléographie and paléogéographie for the second and third senses.

Across languages

Translations

67 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: paleografi — study of old forms of writing
  • Arabic: عِلْم الكِتَابَات القَدِيمَة (ʕilm al-kitābāt al-qadīma) — study of old forms of writing
  • Armenian: հնագրություն (hnagrutʻyun) — study of old forms of writing
  • Asturian: paleografía — study of old forms of writing
  • Azerbaijani: paleoqrafiya — study of old forms of writing
  • Bashkir: палеография (paleografiya) — study of old forms of writing
  • Basque: paleografia — study of old forms of writing
  • Belarusian: палеаграфія (paljeahrafija) — study of old forms of writing
  • Bulgarian: палеография (paleografija) — study of old forms of writing
  • Catalan: paleografia — study of old forms of writing
  • Chinese Cantonese: 古文字學 /古文字学 (gu2 man4 zi6 hok6) — study of old forms of writing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 古文字學 /古文字学 (gǔwénzìxué) — study of old forms of writing
  • Wu Chinese: 古文字学 — study of old forms of writing
  • Chuvash: палеографи (paleografi) — study of old forms of writing
  • Czech: paleografie — study of old forms of writing
  • Danish: palæografi — study of old forms of writing
  • Dutch: paleografie — study of old forms of writing
  • Esperanto: paleografio — study of old forms of writing
  • Estonian: paleograafia — study of old forms of writing
  • Finnish: paleografia — study of old forms of writing
  • French: paléographie — study of old forms of writing
  • Galician: paleografía — study of old forms of writing
  • Georgian: პალეოგრაფია (ṗaleograpia) — study of old forms of writing
  • German: Paläografie — study of old forms of writing
  • German: Paläographie — study of old forms of writing
  • Greek: παλαιογραφία (palaiografía) — study of old forms of writing
  • Hebrew: פלאוגרפיה — study of old forms of writing
  • Hindi: पुरालेखविद्या (purālekhvidyā) — study of old forms of writing
  • Hungarian: paleográfia — study of old forms of writing
  • Icelandic: handritafræði — study of old forms of writing
  • Ido: paleografio — study of old forms of writing
  • Indonesian: paleografi — study of old forms of writing
  • Italian: paleografia — study of old forms of writing
  • Japanese: 古文書学 (komonjogaku) — study of old forms of writing
  • Kazakh: палеография (paleografiä) — study of old forms of writing
  • Korean: 고문자학 (gomunjahak) — study of old forms of writing
  • Kyrgyz: палеография (paleografiya) — study of old forms of writing
  • Latin: palaeographia — study of old forms of writing
  • Latvian: paleogrāfija — study of old forms of writing
  • Luxembourgish: Paleographie — study of old forms of writing
  • Macedonian: палеографија (paleografija) — study of old forms of writing
  • Marathi: लिपिशास्त्र (lipiśāstra) — study of old forms of writing
  • Norwegian: paleografi — study of old forms of writing
  • Persian: کتیبهشناسی — study of old forms of writing
  • Polish: paleografia — study of old forms of writing
  • Portuguese: paleografia — study of old forms of writing
  • Romanian: paleografie — study of old forms of writing
  • Russian: палеогра́фия (paleográfija) — study of old forms of writing
  • Serbo-Croatian: палеогра̀фија — study of old forms of writing
  • Serbo-Croatian: paleogràfija — study of old forms of writing
  • Slovak: paleografia — study of old forms of writing
  • Slovene: paleografija — study of old forms of writing
  • Spanish: paleografía — study of old forms of writing
  • Swedish: paleografi — study of old forms of writing
  • Tagalog: dalubtalandaan — study of old forms of writing
  • Turkish: paleografi — study of old forms of writing
  • Turkmen: paleografiýa — study of old forms of writing
  • Ukrainian: палеографія (paleohrafija) — study of old forms of writing
  • Uzbek: paleografiya — study of old forms of writing
  • Vietnamese: cổ văn tự học — study of old forms of writing
  • Volapük: vönapenav — study of old forms of writing
  • Welsh: palaeograffeg — study of old forms of writing
  • Yiddish: פּאַלעאָגראַפֿיע (paleografye) — study of old forms of writing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 古文字 (gǔwénzì) — ancient scripts or forms of writing
  • Finnish: vanhat kirjoitustyylit — ancient scripts or forms of writing
  • Portuguese: paleografia — ancient scripts or forms of writing
  • Spanish: paleografía — ancient scripts or forms of writing