Etymology

cacography

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Today it means: Bad spelling or punctuation, especially unintuitive spellings considered as a feature of a whole language or dialect. Full definition →

First used 16th c.Middle French cacographie
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The story

  1. Middle French · calque ofcacographie
  2. English todaycacography

From caco- + -graphy, perhaps after Middle French cacographie.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 16th c. Bad spelling or punctuation, especially unintuitive spellings considered as a feature of a whole language or dialect.
  • from 17th c. Poor or illegible handwriting.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.