chancery hand
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.91 in modern English
26
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Either of two styles of handwriting: a written form of black letter used in France and England from about 1350, developed in the Lateran chancelry in the 13th century, or a style of cursive handwriting introduced in the 1420s by Niccolò de' Niccoli, developed from humanist minuscule; a variety of either of these styles.
Example Sentences
- "It begins like a transcript, at the top of the page, without the least appearance or form of an intended original : it is written in the common secretary hand of ,the age, which Crawford mistook for a chancery hand;[…]."
- "Her name, from Crawford's example of it, seems to me to be written in the same chancery hand, which renders the supposed forgery a mere copy, mistaken by Welwood for the original."
- "But, unlike his posterity, Hercolani did not carry this sort of pleasantry too far, and his book remains a splendid specimen of the late chancery hand distinguished by decorative treatment of the ascenders and descenders and a discreet flourishing of initial and terminal letters."
Inflected Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Chancery English
court hand
secretary hand
black letter
Carolingian minuscule
humanist minuscule
italic