orthography

orthography

From Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day by Merriam-Webster

April 21, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the word 'orthography' and its significance in the context of language and spelling.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 21, 2026 is: orthography • \or-THAH-gruh-fee\  • noun Orthography refers to the way in which the words of a language are spelled, or to the art of writing words with the proper letters according to standard usage. // As the winner of several spelling bees, she impressed her teachers with her exceptional grasp of orthography . See the entry > Examples: “ Ormin , a medieval monk, sought to bring order to English orthography by addinng morre letterrs to worrds. August Thibaudin, a London professor, tried 9dding n3mbers. Our ideas for simplifying spelling have ranged from the rashonal to the redikulus to the döunnryt ubsërrd, and with each whimsical solution we seem to get further away from cognitive stability.” — Gabe Henry, Enough is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Eezier to Spell , 2025 Did you know? The concept of orthography (a term that comes from the Greek words orthos , meaning “right or true,” and graphein , meaning “to write”) was not something that really concerned English speakers until the introduction of the printing press in England during the 15th century. From that point on, English spelling…

Topics covered

  • orthography
  • spelling
  • language

Keywords

  • language
  • writing
  • standard usage

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Merriam-Webster's Word, Enough is Enuf, A Dictionary of the English Language

Places: London, England

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