Word.ws English Dictionary

calligraphy

/kəˈlɪɡɹəfi/

calligraphy noun: the art or practice of writing letters and words in a decorative style; the letters and words so written.

calligraphy: the art or practice of writing letters and words in a decorative style; the letters and words so...
Image: Unknown artist Unknown artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

calligraphy (countable and uncountable, plural calligraphies)

  1. (uncountable) The art or practice of writing letters and words in a decorative style; the letters and words so written.
    • This paper will explore the role of calligraphy on three royal mosques built during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (1628-1658):[…].1981, Wayne E. Begley, “2: The Symbolic Role of Calligraphy on Three Imperial Mosques of Shāh Jahān”, in Joanna Gottfried Williams, editor, Kalādarśana: American Studies in the Art of India, page 7
    • There is, however, a temporal separation between the earthly crystallization of Quranic calligraphy and the advent of the Quranic revelation.1987, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Art and Spirituality, page 27
  2. (countable) Any such style of decorative writing.
    • Around the corner, at Goedhuis, among more contemporary calligraphies, the fat and fuzzy brushwork of Zeng Yizeng (born 1973) stands out.2008 March 15, Roberta Smith, “Fair Goes From Feast to Tasting Menu”, in New York Times
  3. (countable) A document written in decorative style.
    • Only a small number of Trungpa Rinpoche's calligraphies have been reproduced heretofore, some in very limited editions.2004, Diana J, Mukpo, Carolyn Rose Gimian (editors), Chogyam Trungpa, The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa, Volume 7, page 169

calligraphy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

calligraphy in Hindi

art of writing beautifully
सुलेख sulekh

calligraphy in Tamil

art of writing beautifully
வனப்பெழுத்து vaṉappeḻuttu

calligraphy in Marathi

सुलेखन, सुलेखनशास्त्र, सुलेखलेखन

calligraphy in Urdu

خطاطی, خوش نویسی, کتابت
More languagesFewer languages
calligraphy in Bengali
সুন্দর হস্তাক্ষর
calligraphy in Telugu
కాలిగ్రఫీ
calligraphy in Malayalam
കാലിഗ്രാഫി, കാലിഗ്രഫി, കാലിോഗ്രാഫി
calligraphy in Kannada
ಅಂದದ ಕಯ್ಬರಹ, ಅಲಂಕಾರಗೊಂಡ ಅಕ್ಷರ, ಸುಂದರವಾದ ಅಕ್ಷರ, ಸುಂದರವಾದ ಹಸ್ತಾಕ್ಷರ
calligraphy in Punjabi
ਕੈਲੀਗ੍ਰਾਫੀ
calligraphy in Gujarati
સુલેખન
calligraphy in Odia
କ୍ଯ଼ାଲିଗ୍ରାଫି, କାଲିଗ୍ରାଫି, କ୍ଯ଼ାଲିଗ୍ରାଫୀ
calligraphy in Nepali
सुलेखन, क्यालिग्राफी, सुलेखशास्त्र
calligraphy in Tagalog
sulat-kamay
calligraphy in Arabic
خَطّ ḵaṭṭ
calligraphy in Malay
kaligrafi, khat, kirografi
calligraphy in Indonesian
kaligrafi, seni khat, seni tulisan
calligraphy in Persian
خوشنویسی xošnevisi, خطاطی xattâti
calligraphy in Thai
อักษรวิจิตร àk-sɔ̌ɔ-rá-wí-jìt
calligraphy in Vietnamese
bút pháp, thư pháp
Dzongkha
ཡིག་བཟོའི་རིག་རྩལ yig bzo'i rig rtsal

Examples of calligraphy in a sentence

  • Sally came first in the calligraphy competition.
  • The artification of calligraphy has transformed an everyday part of life, the practice of writing, into a primarily aesthetic form of expression.
  • The introduction of “fake calligraphy” or “fauxligraphy” took the bullet journaling community by storm.

All 20 example sentences with calligraphy

Synonyms of calligraphy

Forms of calligraphy

pluralcalligraphies

Origin of calligraphy

Borrowed from French calligraphie, from Ancient Greek καλλιγραφία (kalligraphía, literally “pretty writing”), from κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”) + γράφω (gráphō, “to draw”).

Words formed from calligraphy

Questions about calligraphy

What does calligraphy mean?
Calligraphy means the art or practice of writing letters and words in a decorative style; the letters and words so written.
What is calligraphy in Hindi?
Calligraphy in Hindi is सुलेख (sulekh). See Calligraphy meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is calligraphy?
Calligraphy is a noun.
How do you pronounce calligraphy?
Calligraphy is pronounced /kəˈlɪɡɹəfi/.
What is the plural of calligraphy?
The plural of calligraphy is calligraphies.

Words near calligraphy in the dictionary

  1. calligraphies
  2. calligraphing
  3. calligraphist
  4. calligraphists
  5. calligraphs
  6. calligraphy
  7. Callihan
  8. Callihans
  9. Callimachan
  10. Callimachean
  11. Callimacheanism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: calligraphy (page history and authors); calligraphy (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); calligraphy (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); calligraphy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); calligraphy (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); calligraphy (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); calligraphy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); calligraphy (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); calligraphy (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); calligraphy (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); calligraphy (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-calligraphy.wav.

Cite this entry: “calligraphy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/calligraphy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.