Etymology

penmanship

P3E1N1M3A1N1S1H4I1P3

Today it means: Synonym of handwriting or chirography, one's own style of writing. Full definition →

Proto-Germanic *skapjaną ← Middle English man ← Old English mann
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The story

  1. Englishpen
  2. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  3. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  5. Old Englishmann
  6. Middle Englishman
  7. Proto-Germanic*skapjaną
  8. English todaypenmanship

From pen + -manship.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.