Word.ws English Dictionary

clerical script

clerical script noun: an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy, dominant during the Han dynasty. Characters are rather wide (in comparison with modern styles), with long, bold, and deliberate sweeping strokes. Unlike the preceding seal script, it is still easily legible to modern readers, and thus remains in decorative use.

clerical script: an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy, dominant during the Han dynasty. Characters are rather...
Image: Wang Zhongyu (王仲玉), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

clerical script (uncountable)

  1. An archaic style of Chinese calligraphy, dominant during the Han dynasty. Characters are rather wide (in comparison with modern styles), with long, bold, and deliberate sweeping strokes. Unlike the preceding seal script, it is still easily legible to modern readers, and thus remains in decorative use.

clerical script meaning in Vietnamese

clerical script in Vietnamese

style of Chinese calligraphy
lệ thư

Forms of clerical script

alternative formclerkly script

Origin of clerical script

Calque from Chinese 隸書/隶书 (lìshū). Tradition holds that clerical script developed out of the needs of clerks.

Questions about clerical script

What does clerical script mean?
Clerical script means an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy, dominant during the Han dynasty. Characters are rather wide (in comparison with modern styles), with long, bold, and deliberate sweeping strokes. Unlike the preceding seal script, it is still easily legible to modern readers, and thus remains in decorative use.
What is clerical script in Vietnamese?
Clerical script in Vietnamese is lệ thư. See Clerical script meaning in Vietnamese.
What part of speech is clerical script?
Clerical script is a noun.

Words near clerical script in the dictionary

  1. clerical collars
  2. clerical error
  3. clerical errors
  4. clerical marriage
  5. clerical marriages
  6. clerical script
  7. clericalism
  8. clericalisms
  9. clericalist
  10. clericalists
  11. clericality

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clerical script (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated:

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