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

Noun
calligraphy (countable and uncountable, plural calligraphies)
- 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
- 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
- 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.
Synonyms of calligraphy
Forms of calligraphy
| plural | calligraphies |
|---|
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
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.
