Document Examiner Dictionary

Acronyms Abbreviations in which the initial letters of the words in the name are written and spoken as a single word, e.g., NADE Affix A morpheme attached to a word root, a prefix, or a suffix.

Alignment The spatial organization of the writing pattern, its linear arrangement of words and intervening spaces and their accommodation on the page.

Allograph A writing or signature made by one person for another; or a style (block capital, print script, or cursive form) of one of the 26 graphernes of the English alphabet or of the ligatures and other symbols that accompany it (Ellis 1979).

Allolog Different forms of a word created by adding an affix, e.g., hope to hoped.

Alphabet A system of writing in which a set of allographs represent the graphernes of a language.

Apex Up-pointing or down-pointing free-ending juncture of two stems, e.g., 'A;"'M:' "V," or "W"

Aphasia The loss of a previous ability to speak, or impairment of the power to use and understand words.

Appendage or paraph A final pen-flourish of a free sweeping line made over or under a name written as a signature; sometimes a simple terminal stroke or dot.

Arc Part of a circle; a bow-like curved line.

Arcade The rounded style used to form the arches of the cursive letters "n1""m;'and"h.' Arch The rounded hump or top curve of such letters as "n," "m," and "h.'

Arm A horizontal or upward-sloping short stroke starting from the stem of a character, ending free, e.g., "K,' "E," or "E"

Arrangement The order or organization of a written inscription on a sheet.

Ascender Part of the lowercase letters extending above the body or x-height, e.g., "b," "dl" "h'" or '11" usually a loop, but including the stem of the "t."

Assisted writing The result of a guided hand, produced by the cooperation of the two minds and two hands of two persons.

Asterisk A star-shaped symbol or figure, "," used to indicate a reference to a footnote or an omission.

Autograph A person's signature, his handwriting; a manuscript in an author's own handwriting.

Axial direction In the direction of the axis.

Balloon Printing that resembles speed ball-pen lettering.

Ball terminal Small round globe, found at the end of some printing strokes, e.g., 'Y' and

Bar Horizontal or oblique short final stroke of some cursive letters, not to be confusedwith terminal strokes.

Bar, connecting Intermediate stroke, connecting strokes of a letter to other strokes, usually a dual-staffed letter.

Bar, cross A stroke intersecting the stem or main portion of the letter; a cross-stroke.

Baroque Certain stylistic tendencies of the seventeenth and eighteenth century arts,characterized by exuberance and extravagance - grotesque, whimsical - used in reference to older designs of currency.

Base line The horizontal real or assumed line upon which letters reside.

Beard A slight hook preceding the body of a letter, not to be confused with that frequentlyforming a part of the initial stroke.

Beginning strokes See strokes, initial.

Bitmap A mosaic of dots or pixels defining an image, including dot matrix imprints. The smoothness of the image contour depends upon the fineness of resolution and the number of dots or pixels per inch.

Blind eyelet An eyelet formation of such small size or narrow width that it has been filled in.

Blind loop A loop formation that has been completely filled in with ink.

Block formation Letters set so closely together within a word as to make the word stand out as a compact unit or block.

Blobbing The accumulation of ink on the exterior of the point assembly of a ball-point pen, that drops intermittently to the surface being written upon.

Blotter image A natural, involuntary record on a blotter or similar substrate of script, figures, etc.

Blunt ending The effect produced on commencement and terminal strokes of letters, both upper and lowercase, by the application of the writing instrument to the paper prior to the beginning of any horizontal movement; an action that usually omits any beard, hitch, knob, or tick.

Boat A dish-shaped figure consisting of a concave stroke and a straight line, sometimes forming the base of letters.

Body That portion of a letter, the central part, that remains when the upper and lower projections, the terminal and initial strokes, and the diacritics are omitted.

Body-height See x-height.

Bold face A heavier version of a regular typeface; used for emphasis or visual effect.

Boustrophedon Writing in which alternate lines are written in opposite directions and even have the posture as well as the direction of reversed letters.

Bow A vertical curved stroke, as in capitals "Y' and "C.'

Bowl The line fully enclosing a counter; a complete bowl, formed by a curved stroke only; a modified bowl, in which the stem forms a side of the bowl.

Braces Two symbols (, used to connect or segregate written material. Bracket or fellet A wedge- shaped structure joining a serif to a stem.

Braille A system of representing letters, numerals, etc., by raised dots that a visuallyimpaired person can read by touch.

Brush Balloon-style printing extended to a script.

Buckle knot The loop followed by a horizontal stroke that is sometimes used to complete letters such as the "A," "G' and "C'

Buckles The means by which an element of a letter ties itself to the staff, as in the letters "K" and "R."

Burring A division of a written line into two or more, more or less equal portions, by a noninked area generally running parallel to the direction of line generation, but moving away from the radius of a curving stroke, sometimes referred to as "splitting.,

Caret A mark, "A" used to show where something is to be inserted in written or printed matter.

Capital letter or capital Uppercase or majuscule (see also "uncial").

Character Any typed or handwritten mark, sign or insignia, abbreviation, punctuation mark, letter, or numeral, whether legible, blurred, or indistinct.

Check mark A mark usually consisting of a short downward stroke, made with considerable pressure, followed by a lighter upward stroke at an angle toward the right (or to the left, as constructed by most, if not many, left-handed writers).

Cicero A typographic unit of measurement used predominantly in Europe. It consists of 12 Didot points, each measuring.01483 inch. Thus, a cicero is .1776 or 4.511 mm.

Cipher The arithmetic symbol "0,' representing naught or zero.

Coadjutant One who works together with another; the individual providing enabling aid to a signer or signatory of a document, when required.

Codicil A supplement to a will, the purpose of which is to alter or augment the provisions of the already executed will.

Collected standards A sample of writing made during the normal course of business or social activity~ not necessarily related to the matter in dispute.

Colophon A short note at the end of a book, usually handwritten, giving details of its author and the making of the book. Also, the emblem or device of a publishing house, carried on the spine, title page or back of a book.

Concave A curved stroke that projects to the left or downward.

Condensed face A typeface that has narrow letter widths.

Conjoined letters Two letters that have been written in the common manner, such that the terminal stroke of the first is the initial stroke of the second.

Connectedness, degree of The extent to which letters within a word are joined without lifting the writing instrument from the paper.

Connecting stroke An expression commonly used to refer to the fusion of the terminal stroke of one lowercase cursive letter and the initial stroke of another, having no identifiable or describable entity of its own (see "conjoined letters").

Connection subtypes

Unsupported - the body of the letter does not follow or retrace the stem. Supported - the body of the letter rests against or retraces the stem. Looped - the initial stroke forms a loop with the stem of the letter.

Contraction A form of word abbreviation wherein one or more letters are omitted.

Convex A curved stroke that projects to the right or upward.

Copybook A manual of writing instruction that places models before the learner, to be copied.

Counter A printer's term for the fully or partially-enclosed interior white space within a character, as in the "a," "b," "c," "d," "el" "g;`j," "o," " p;"'q," "s:' and many capitals.

Counterstroke A stroke that originates from a movement that stresses a direction opposite to the expected one.

Crossbar The connecting horizontal stroke between two stems of a letter, as in ~'Yor "H," or the projecting horizontal stroke necessary for the formation of a letter, as in the cursive "t," or the printed T'

Cross mark A crude "X" used historically by those who could not write. Still used by illiterates and, if properly witnessed, can be legally accepted as a signature.

Crotch Space where an arm or an arc meets a stem at an acute or obtuse angle.

Crown (cap) The horizontal (sometimes undulating) stroke forming the top of some letters; found only in majuscules, "T," "E"

Cursive A form of continuous writing in which letters are connected to one another, and designed according to some commercial system; the most common allograph of a grapheme. Curtailment An abbreviation wherein the last letter(s) of a word are omitted.

Curvilinear Consisting of or contained by a curved line or lines; opposite of rectilinear. Cusp The point at which two curved lines meet.

Dash Short, usually horizontal, hastily written stroke.

Delta Fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, "6:'the Ureek d. Dent Slight hollow formation.

Descender A part of a letter extending below the base line, as in "g;"'j,"'p;"'q,' y. Dextrality Right- band preference, as opposed to sinistrality or left-hand preference. Diacritical mark or point A sign added to a letter or symbol to give it a particular phonetic value. An accent. Sometimes used to refer to the dots over the 'T' and

Diagonal stroke See "virgule."

Didot system A typographic measuring system, used in Europe and based on the Didot point, similar to the US.-English pica system (see cicero).

Digraph A group of two successive letters representing a single sound or a complex sound that is not a combination of the sounds ordinarily represented by each in other occurrences, e.g., "Ph7 in digraph, "ch" in chin.

Diphthong The combination of two vowels in succession, the sound of which begins with one and ends with the other, e.g., "ofl," "boy," or "out.'

Document Examiner is qualified to examine handwriting for forensic purposes

En space A typographic unit of horizontal space, equal to one half of the point size of any font.

Endstroke The terminal stroke of a written form, word, or letter.

Endstroke obliteration An endstroke that thrusts abruptly to the left, bisecting a word or signature crosswise.

Epistle A letter or communication, especially a formal one.

Epsilon The fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, "E:' representing the letter "e.'

Escapement The spacing of the letters or characters al ' Ong the line of typewriting; the pitch.

Essential tremour A common neurological condition causing tremour of the arms, and/or hands.

Exclamation mark A punctuation mark "!," used after an exclamation.

Exemplar An example of a person's writing, a standard for use in comparisons, a "collected" or a "request" specimen.

Expanded typeface A typeface that has wide letter widths.

Expansion The spread of writing, usually horizontally, upon the writing space.

Extended writing Writing, usually cursive, of a textual nature, of any amount, but other than a signature.

Extensions Ascending and descending stems and loops of bizonal and trizonal letters. Eyelet, blind An eyelet formation of such size or width that it is "filled in."

Eyelet A small, round or oval formation beginning or closing a curve or spiral, or completing the inside shape of a round letter, e,g., "e:`D:' or "w."

Feathering The condition in which the writing/printing fluid spreads laterally in a pattern that usually follows the direction of the surface fibres away from the written or printed line. Characteristic of intaglio printing involving extreme pressures of the plate on the paper; thus, also called gushing.

Fixed spacing Uniform horizontal spacing of the characters of a type font, as opposed to proportional spacing that varies with the design of the character. Flourish A decorative pen stroke that serves only as an ornament. Flow-back An increase in the density of an ink line caused by the run of excess ink along the finish of a stroke, occurring when the pen is lifted from the paper.

Fluctuation Alternating changes of direction, position or conditions, i.e., alternating acceleration and deceleration of writing speed, or alternating expansion and contraction of the writing pattern.

Fluency Freedom, and other like terms, referring to a generally higher grade of line quality that is smooth, consistent, and without any evidence of tremour or erratic changes in direction or pen pressure.

Fluorescence The phenomena in which some substances absorb light and re-emit part of it as light of a longer wave length. Fluorescence ceases when incident or exciting illumination ceases.

Flying finish The diminishing taper of a terminal stroke when the motion of the instrument does not stop at the completion of a word, or the minute barb sometimes growing out of it.

Flying start The growing taper of an initial stroke, or the delicate initial hook, that appears where the motion of the instrument precedes actual writing.

Folio Originally, four pages of text on a single sheet of paper.

Font (= fount) A complete set or collection of letters, figures, symbols, punctuation marks, and special characters that are of the same design and size, for a particular typeface. Foot That portion of the downstroke of a letter, written or printed, touching the base line. Forced hand A person's signature or writing executed while the hand was under the physical compulsion or control of another person.

Forensic Handwriting Examiner scrutinizes handwriting for authenticity

Forward oval An oval made by a clockwise circular motion. Fount See "font.'

Fraudulent handwriting The forgery of a signature, a word, a figure, a number of lines of writing, or of an entire document.

Freehand simulation A fraudulent signature that is produced by copying or imitating the style and size of a genuine signature, without the use of physical aids or involving a tracing process.

Garlanded A writing style in which rounded trough-like strokes and movements dominate. Gooping The accumulation of excessive amounts of ink on the exterior of the point assembly of a ball-point pen as a result of the rotation of the ball, that is usually transferred to the paper surface immediately after the direction of rotation is substantially changed. Graph The pattern of ink on the paper representing, for that writer, a particular allograph. Grapheme The smallest identifiable unit of writing; not divisible; the abstract concept of a letter of the alphabet.

Graphics Of, or pertaining to writing or drawing.

Graphometry A method of characterizing a handwriting by measurement of the proportionate values of the angles and ratios of the heights and widths of letters.

Graphoanalysis A registered trade name that identifies the system of handwriting analysis taught by the International Graphoanalysis Society, Inc.

Graphonomics The study of the science and technology of handwriting and other graphic skills (coined in 1982), or the scientific study concerned with the systematic relationships involved in the generation and analysis of writing and drawing movements, and the resulting traces of writing and drawing instruments, either on conventional media, such as paper and blackboard, or on electronic equipment.

Graphonym Two different words or letter combinations that, when written cursively, appear nearly identical. Rare in English, but includes "win/urn," "bi/Ir," "d/cl," etc.

Guided-hand signature A signature that is executed while the writer's hand or arm is steadied or assisted by another person.

Guillemets Horizontal chevrons, << ~>, used in French to mark quotations.

Guilloche Free swinging, asymmetrical curves; a succession of smooth convoluting lines that intersect themselves, characteristic of intaglio security printing.

Gutter The space between printed columns of text.

Habit Any persistently repeated element or detail of writing that occurs when the opportunity allows.

Hairline A very thin stroke.

Handlettering A disconnected style of writing in which letter design usually follows that of the uppercase printed character. Handprinting.

Haplography The unintentional omission in writing or copying of one or more adjacent and similar letters, syllables, words, or lines.

Harpoon The snapped-back ending of a written stroke; shaped like a harpoon.

Hiatus A gap in a writing stroke of a letter formed when the instrument leaves the paper; an opening; an interruption in the continuity of a line.

Hind link The stroke by means of which a letter links with a preceding letter.

Hitch The introductory backward stroke added to the beginning of many capital letters and some lowercase letters.

Holograph A document written entirely in the handwriting of the person whose signature it bears.

Homographs The writing of "homonyms."

Homonyms Words that are both pronounced and spelled the same, but have different meanings, e.g., lead (verb) and lead (noun).

Homophones Words that sound alike, but have different spelling and meaning, e.g., stair and stare. In ancient writings they were different symbols with the same phonetic value orsound.

Hook A small curved stroke.

Horizontal chevrons See "guillemets.'

Horizontal dash A punctuation mark "-" used to indicate a break or omission. Horizontal line The base line of writing or printing or a line parallel to it.

Horizontal malalignment A typewriter alignment defect in which the character prints to the right or left of its proper position.

Iconographs The first attempts by neolithic man to depict objects and ideas.

Ideographs Picture symbols and stick figures employed by neolithic man to graphically represent objects and ideas in drawings on cave walls.

Imprimature A licence to print.

Inerthand- An execution of writing in which the person holding the writing instrument exercises no motor activity whatever, conscious or unconscious. The guide leads the writing instrument through the medium of the hand of the first person. The writer may be feeble or a complete illiterate.

Infralinear letters Small or lowercase letters that have components that extend below the baseline of writing, e.g., "g," "j;' 11 P;"'q' ' "y" and "z."

Initial stroke The first stroke of a letter or a word.

Initial spur The long initial rising stroke of a letter.

Interline The insertion of additional words between the lines of a written document.

Interlinear spacing The distance between the baselines of two successively occurring lines of writing.

Interstice An intervening space between things, e.g., between fibres in paper or between lines of writing.

,Inverted posture That in which the point of the writing instrument is directed toward the body of the writer.

Italic Type that slants forward.

Jointorjuncture The point or position at which two or more strokes meet within a letter. Justified Vertically-aligned side margins; line lengths of equal measure.

Kerning The spacing of two letters closer together than customary when their designs leave too much intercharacter white space.

Knob A round lump or bulge, as in the copybook design of the lowercase cursive "k."

Lacunae See "hiatus.'

Lateral expansion The horizontal dimension of writing produced by the width of letters, the space between letters and words, and the width of margins.

Lateral writing Writing characterized by wide letters and spacing.

Left-handed curve A stroke that is made in a counterclockwise direction.

Leg An appendage; usually a lower extension from the body, as in "W' and "K."

Legibility The ease with which a reader recognizes individual letter and character shapes. Letter Any drawn, written, printed, or typed character, lowercase or uppercase, that can be recognized as an allograph of the alphabet of any language.

Lexical Pertaining or related to the words of a language (hence dyslexia meaning a disturbance of the ability to read).

Ligature A group of connected characters treated typographically as a single character; sometimes a stroke or bar connecting two letters.

Line measure The length of a line of printing expressed in picas, points, or ciceros.

Line quality A term characterizing the visible record of the stroke of writing. It is the product of a combination of factors including speed, rhythm, shading, pen pressure, and pen position.

The degree of regularity (i.e., smoothness or gradation) in the written stroke as may be judged from the consistency of its path in a prescribed direction. It varies from smooth and controlled to tremulous and erratic.

Linear letters Small or lowercase letters having no components that extend above or below the x- height, e.g., "a,' "c," "e," "i," "m," 'W`o," "r," "s," "u;`v," "w," and "x:'

Link The stroke connecting the top and bottom segments of a lower case printed "g.' Lithographic printing See "lithography."

Lithography Printing from a smooth surface plate that has been treated so that the printing areas are ink attracting and the nonprinting areas are ink repelling.

Look-through The appearance of paper when viewed by transmitted light, thus, disclosing the texture or formation of the sheet.

Loop The circular figure formed when aline crosses itself, as in the cursive letters "e" and "If

Lowercase letters Small letters of the alphabet as opposed to capital letters; minuscules. Lower loop A loop extending below the baseline; a descender.

Luminescence The visible glow of certain substances (e.g., components of some inks) when subjected to stimulation by electromagnetic radiation, electric fields, or heat. Luminescence embraces fluorescence and phosphorescence.

Main script The most important stroke of a letter (see "stern"). Majuscule The capital or upper case forms of letters. Uncials.

Manuscript writing A disconnected form of writing using many printed letter forms, frequently taught to children in elementary schools as the first step in learning to write.

Margins The space at the top, bottom, and sides of the page that frames the body of written, typed, or printed matter.

Microphotography The term used in Europe for the making of large photographs of small objects, usually through a microscope. In the U.K. and the U.S.A. this is called photomicrography, and microphotography is used to refer to the technique of making microscopically small photographs by the process of optical reduction.

Mid-arm The cross stroke in letters such as "H" and "A.'

Midline The line halfway between the baseline and headline of writing or printing, either real or imaginary.

Minim A short, vertical stroke on the baseline, e.g., the legs on an "m.'

Minuscule The small or lower case forms of letters, as opposed to capitals.

Mirror writing Writing that runs in the opposite direction to the normal pattern; starts on the right side of the pages and proceeds from right to left, with reversed order in spelling and turning of the letter images.

Model signature A genuine signature used to prepare a simulated or traced forgery.

Moir6 A pattern that is the mathematical solution to the interface of two periodic functions. Most moire patterns are generated by figures that consist of lines, but lines are not strictly necessary. They may be interacting figures having some sort of solid and open regions of any geometric form. In simplest form, a moir6 pattern arises from the imperfect superimposition of two sets of equidistant parallel lines.

Moneybag A vernacular term sometimes used to describe an inflated, oversized lower loop.

Monogram A character composed of two or more letters interwoven together, the letters being usually the initials of a formal name.

Morpheme The meaningful constituent of a word; the "root!

Natural variation The imprecision with which the habits of the writer are executed on repeated occasions (Huber), or the divergence of one execution from another in an element of an individual's writing that occurs invariably in the graph but may also occur in the choice of the allograph (Huber), or normal or usual deviations found between repeated specimens of any individual's handwriting or in the product of any typewriter or other record making machine (Hilton).

Nodule A small, rounded mass or lump of ink caused by an excessive deposit; the result of "gooping" in some ball-point pens.

Nonce word A word coined to fit a special situation.

Normal posture That in which the writing instrument is pointed away from the body of the writer.

Numeral Any drawn, written, printed, or typed character representing a quantity, of which numbers are formed; a digit.

Obliteration The blotting out or smearing over of writing, lettering, or printing to make the original invisible or undecipherable.

Obverse The side that bears the principal design; the front or principal surface of anything.

Octothorpe The symbol, "#," used to represent the word number, when it precedes one or more digits, or the word pound when it succeeds one or more digits.

Off-its-feet The condition of a typeface, that prints heavier on one side or corner than the remainder of the character.

Orthography The principles by which the alphabet is set into correspondence with the speech sounds; the art of spelling.

Oval forms Bowls of letters that have an oval shape, e.g., "a," "d," "g," 'W, "q." Paradigm A pattern, an exemplar, an example, or model.

Paraph A flourish or sweeping line, stroke or dot, above, through or below a signature; an appendage; a rubric; the figure formed by the flourish of a pen at the conclusion of a signature.

Parenthesis Either or both of the upright curved lines used to mark off explanatory or qualifying remarks, e.g., "(".

Patching Retouching or going back over a defective portion of the writing stroke; retracing. Pen emphasis The act of intermittently forcing the pen against the paper surface with increased pressure.

Pen lift An interruption in a stroke due to the removal of the writing instrument from the paper.

Pen position The angle relationship between the axis of the pen and the paper.

Pen hold The manner in which the writing instrument is held in the hand; includes the pen position relative to the paper surface, the direction of the instrument relative to the writing line and to the writer.

Perfins Pinhole designs, initials, or numerals, made through stamps (after 1860 in Great Britain, and 1908 in the U.S.A.), coined from "Perforated Insignia!

Phoneme A symbol representing a phone (i.e., a distinctive sound), abstracted from spoken words.

Phosphorescence A kind of fluorescence that continues for a time after the stimulating light source ceases.

Photomicrography The making of large photographs of small objects often via a microscope (on this continent and in the U.K.). See also "microphotography."

Pica A unit of measure of printer's type, approximately 1/6 inches or 12 points typically used for vertical measurement. Also a term used to denote conventional monotone typewriter typeface that has a fixed character width of 10 to the inch.

Pilcrow A proofreader's mark to indicate a paragraphs beginning,

Point The basic typographic unit of measurement of fonts, line spacing, rules and borders; there are 12 points to a pica and 72 points to the inch; typically used for vertical dimensions. Point load The vertical component of the force applied to the tip of a writing instrument during line generation.

Polyphones - Symbols having more than one phonetic value.

Pressure The amount of force exerted on the point of the writing instrument, technically termed point load. Pressure may manifest itself in line quality, i.e., thickness and shading of the stroke; also noted in the amount of indentation in the paper surface.

Proportional spacing Spacing that varies with the design of the character of the font. Proportions The comparative relations between letters and parts of letters.

Pseudo expansion The result of wide interspaces between narrow letters.

Pump handle A term some give to the projecting element of the printed "r."

Rebound A typewriter defect in which a character prints a double impression with the lighter one slightly offset to the right or left.

Recto In printing, the right hand page of an open book, hence, the front of the leaf, as opposed to the back or verso.

Collections of typewriting, check writer specimens, inks, pens, pencils, papers, etc. compiled and organized by the document examiner as standards of the products.

Request standards Writing samples written at the request of another person. Retouching Touching up to correct or perfect a graphic execution.

Reverse curve A section of curve where its radius changes to an opposite direction; an undulation.

Reverse That side of a page or document that does not bear the main device or inscription.

Rhythm A harmonious recurrence of stress, impulse, or motion; sometimes used to classify writing quality, e.g., smooth, intermittent, or jerky.

Ribbon impression A sample of typewriter text made directly through a fabric or carbon film ribbon.

Right-handed curve One that is made in a clockwise direction.

River Gaps in the writing or printing pattern that form a straggling white stream down the page.

Rubric A flourish after or under a name written as a signature, an underscore or underline. In ancient times it was a red ornamental letter at the beginning of a chapter or a division of a manuscript.

Sans serif A class of typefaces without serifs. Sawtooth See "serrations."

Script Handwriting as distinguished from printing or lettering; cursive writing.

Semicolon A mark of punctuation, ";", indicating a degree of separation, intermediate between the comma and the period.

Serif A broadening of the ends of the main strokes of a character; maybe of many designs and sizes.

Serrations Roughness along the edges of an ink line seen under a microscope. Set The width of an individual typewritten letter.

Set-off The unwanted transfer of ink from one sheet of paper to the back of the sheet above.

Shading Stressed contrast between thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes. A widening of the ink stroke due to the added pressure on the writing instrument.

Shoulder A joint, bridge, or hump on top of the small cursive letter 'Y' between the up and downstrokes; the curved arches of the "h," "m:' and "n."

Signatory A signer, with another or others; a person whose name is being inscribed on a document who requires assistance in doing so.

Signature The name of a person, or mark representing it, as written by himself or herself. Sinistrality Left-hand preference, as opposed to dextrality or right-hand preference, particularly in writing.

Skeletal stem Letter extensions made without the required loop formation.

Skip The self-recoverable, temporary interruption (without deposition of ink) in an otherwise continuous writing line.

Slant The angle or inclination of the axis of letters relative to the baseline of writing. Slash 'W', see "virgule.'

Soldered break A corrective retracing by which the writer attempts to fit together the two ends of a broken stroke so that no hiatus remains.

Solidus The diagonal line used to separate; amounts in English currency, e.g., 12/6 for 12 shillings, 6 pence, or the numerator and denominator in fractions, e.g., 1/2 (see virgule). Spacing The distance between letters or words (see also "interlinear spacing").

Speed 'Y' The Roundhand, Palmer, or Mills "r"; the "v" type "r."

Spine The main slightly curved stroke of a lower case or capital "S.'

Spiral That portion of a letter executing a spiral formation, popular designs of commencement and termination in older styles of writing.

Splicing A term used to denote the slight overlapping of two strokes after an interruption in the writing action.

Splitting The division of an ink line into two or more, more or less equal portions, by a noninked area running generally parallel to the direction of the stroke, sometimes called burring.

Springboard An initial stroke commencing far below the baseline and to the left of the stem.

Spur A small projection off the main stroke seen on some printed uppercase "G"s; or the short lateral finishing stroke found in the lowercase "b," "v," and "w"

Spurious signature A fraudulent signature in which there was no apparent attempt at simulation or imitation.

Staff That portion of the letter forming the backbone.

Starving A condition in which there is an inadequate flow of writing fluid to the writing surface.

Stem The main or heavy stroke of a letter to which the other parts are attached. Stress See "pressure."

Stroke A single written line, either ascending, descending, or lateral in the formation of a letter or any of its parts.

Subscript A character or symbol written next to and slightly below a letter or number. Superscript A character or symbol written next to and slightly above a letter or number. Supralinear letters Small or lowercase letters that have components that extend above the x height, e.g., "bl" "d:"h,' -k,7 'I," 't."

Swash A fancy flourish replacing a terminal stroke or serif.

Symbol In writing, a character that is used to represent something that might be expressed in one or more words, e.g., I," and is considered part of a typing or printing font.

Thil A terminal or ending stroke; sometimes used to refer to the leg of an "It" or "K," or to the final element of the "Q."

Tenting A term used to describe a letter that contains a tent-shaped form. Terminal stroke The last stroke of a word; endstroke.

Textual writing That pertaining to a text, extended writing, usually cursive, but not inclusive of a signature.

Tick Any superfluous small stroke preceding or succeeding the body of a letter.

Tilde A small stroke or mark used in writing or printing placed above certain letters in some languages to denote a change in sound; a diacritical mark.

Trace The mark, track, rail, or imprint of a stroke.

Traced forgery Any fraudulent signature executed by a manual, mechanical or electronic endeavour to follow the outline of a genuine signature.

Tremour A lack of smoothness, due to lack of skill, consciousness of the writing act or to the deliberate control of the instrument in copying or tracing, or an involuntary, roughly rhythmic, and sinusoidal movement.

Tremulous An unsteady, wavering stroke produced by an involuntary vibratory motion of the writing hand.

Trough The bend, crook or inner side of a curve opening upwards, or, the valleys of letters such as "u:"'v," "w," and "y."

Typeface The name of a particular design of printed characters and symbols.

Typeface family A range of typeface designs that are variations of one basic style of alphabet.

Uncial A script writing style of the fourth to ninth centuries that introduced what became minuscule or lowercase forms to the alphabet.

Undercurve A forward oval movement in an upstroke.

Undercut A connection that falls below the base of the succeeding letter. Uppercase letters A printing term for capital letters; majuscules.

Upper loop A loop extending above the baseline or the height of linear letters; an ascender.

Versal letters Those that mark important parts of the text, used for headings and words written at the beginning of books or chapters; often distinguished by size, colour, and ornamentation which tends towards curves and flourishes.

Verso The left-hand page of a book or the reverse side of a leaf, opposite of recto. Vertex The apex, top, or crown; the highest point of a letter.

Vertical expansion Product of the height of letters and distance between lines.

Vertical misalignment A typewriter alignment defect in which the character prints above or below its proper position.

Vertical writing Perpendicular to the baseline, upright writing.

Vertical stroke An upright stroke perpendicular to the baseline of the writing.

Virgule A short oblique stroke 'T', between two words indicating that whichever is appropriate may be chosen to complete the sense of the text in whic~ they occur; a dividing line as in dates, fractions, etc. Also called a diagonal, solidus (in English currency and in fractions), oblique, slant, and slash mark. Used to mean "or" (as in and/or), or "per" (as in miles/hour). Separates figures of a date (e.g., 2/10/97).

Visible light Rays that can be seen by the human eye, but are only a part of the complete spectrum of so-called electromagnetic radiation. Rays of other parts of the spectrum cannot be seen but can be detected.

Walking cane A term sometimes given to the initial loop and stem of some capital letters when the curvature and design suggests the resemblance.

Whirl The curving upstroke, usually on letters that have long loops, but also on some styles of the capital "W."

Whorl A form composed of spiralling strokes, produced by a loose, circling writing movement.

Writing angle The included angle measured from the plane of the writing surface to the longitudinal axis of the pen when in writing position.

Writing movement A three-dimensional pattern of the action of a writing instrument; variants in the predominating action of the writing instrument.

Writing offset The transfer of fresh ink upon contact with another document producing a mirror image of part of the writing.

Writing speed The rate of line generation, sometimes wrongly regarded to be the rate of word generation, that varies with the size of the writing.

Writingsystern The combination of basic letter design and writing movement prescribed by a publication or taught in a school.

Wrong-handed writing Any writing executed with the opposite hand from that normally used, writing of the nondominant or nonpreferred hand.

X-height The height of the linear letters (no ascenders or descenders).