| Front | chirography \kye-RAH-gruh-fee\ |
|---|---|
| Back | noun 1. Handwriting, penmanship. 2. Calligraphy. [We can thank the Greeks again for the combining forms chiro- (hand) and -graphy (writing). The word has many cousins: chiromancy: reading palms to divine the future: palmistry chiropractic: adjusting the spine (using hands, presumably) chiropody: an odd name for podiatry (treating foot problems) chiropter: another name for bats (who got their hands retrofitted as wings at Intelligent Design, Inc.)] "This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present." - Nathaniel Hawthorne; The Scarlet Letter; 1850. |
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