handwriting

/ˌhæn(d)ˈraɪdɪŋ/

/ˈhændraɪtɪŋ/

Other forms: handwritings

The process of writing something with a pen or pencil is handwriting. And you can call the way you write your handwriting too. By the time you finish the handwriting of a hundred Christmas cards, your handwriting will probably be illegible.

When you're taking notes or working on your novel, your process can involve typing, dictating, or handwriting — scrawling on a piece of paper with a pen. Your typical style of scrawl is also called your handwriting — it's the script in which you write. Doctors are kind of famous for having terrible handwriting, while elementary school teachers tend to have very tidy, legible handwriting.

Definitions of handwriting

1. noun

   the activity of writing by hand
   “handwriting can be slow and painful for one with arthritis”

   types:

   stenography

   the act or art of writing in shorthand

   subscription

   the act of signing your name; writing your signature (as on a document)

   execution, execution of instrument

   (law) the completion of a legal instrument (such as a contract or deed) by signing it (and perhaps sealing and delivering it) so that it becomes legally binding and enforceable

   type of:

   committal to writing, writing

   the activity of putting something in written form
2. noun

   something written by hand
   “she recognized his handwriting”

   synonyms: hand, script

   types:

   shorthand, stenography, tachygraphy

   a method of writing rapidly

   cursive, cursive script, longhand, running hand

   rapid handwriting in which letters are set down in full and are cursively connected within words without lifting the writing implement from the paper

   calligraphy, chirography, penmanship

   beautiful handwriting

   cacography, scratch, scrawl, scribble

   poor handwriting

   miniscule, minuscule

   a small cursive script developed from uncial between the 7th and 9th centuries and used in medieval manuscripts

   copperplate

   a graceful style of handwriting based on the writing used on copperplate engravings

   italic

   a style of handwriting with the letters slanting to the right

   round hand

   a clearly written style of longhand with large round curves

   chicken scratch

   cramped or illegible handwriting

   squiggle

   an illegible scrawl

   type of:

   writing

   letters or symbols that are written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language