Word.ws English Dictionary

grapholect

/ˈɡɹæfəˌlɛkt/

grapholect noun: a written variant of a language, analogous to a spoken dialect of a language.

Noun

grapholect (plural grapholects)

  1. A written variant of a language, analogous to a spoken dialect of a language.
    • The grapholect of Standard English is not the exclusive system that arbiters of cultural purity wish to 'correct' us into believing1993, Gajendra K. Verma, Inequality and teacher education: an international perspective, page 188
    • A grapholect is a transdialectical language formed by deep commitment to writing. An example of grapholect is the (written) Chinese language. Almost any Standard language, such as Standard Dutch or Standard English is a grapholect.1993, MHM Heng, Three Dimensions of Information Technology Applications: A Historical Perspective

Forms of grapholect

pluralgrapholects

Origin of grapholect

Blend of grapheme + dialect, coined by linguist Einar Haugen in 1964.

Words formed from grapholect

Questions about grapholect

What does grapholect mean?
Grapholect means a written variant of a language, analogous to a spoken dialect of a language.
What part of speech is grapholect?
Grapholect is a noun.
How do you pronounce grapholect?
Grapholect is pronounced /ˈɡɹæfəˌlɛkt/.
What is the plural of grapholect?
The plural of grapholect is grapholects.

Words near grapholect in the dictionary

  1. graphograms
  2. graphoid
  3. graphoids
  4. grapholagnia
  5. grapholatry
  6. grapholect
  7. grapholectal
  8. grapholects
  9. grapholinguistics
  10. grapholite
  11. grapholites

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grapholect (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: “grapholect.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/grapholect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.