graphograms

Noun

graphogram (plural graphograms)

1. (obsolete, rare) A wax cylinder on which a message is recorded.
   • Sir: I am in receipt of your communication of the 21st ultimo wherein you say “there appears to be a diversity of opinions among postmasters relative to the rate of postage properly chargeable on phonograms and graphograms designations now commonly applied to messages impressed on wax cylinders by...1880 August 7, R.W. Haynes, the Third Assistant Postmaster-General, Official Opinions of the Assistant-General for the Post-Office Department from April 29, 1885, to March 17, 1892. Number from 487...
2. (obsolete, rare) some nonsense in graphology, probably several kinds thereof.
3. (rare) A written inkling of a name in a writing system incompletely rendering the phonological system of a language.
   • nowhere in Sanskrit literature do we find an individual’s name, never mind an astrologer’s name, which could have served even remotely as a base form for the Arabic graphograms. […] In the face of these findings, any attempt at explaining the Arabic graphograms must proceed from the premise of...2019 August 23, Oliver Kahl, “A Note on ‘Arabic’ صنجهل”, in Journal of Semitic Studies, volume 64, number 2, →DOI, pages 606–607