English

Adjective

manuscript ‎(not comparable)

1. handwritten, or by extension manually typewritten, as opposed to being mechanically reproduced.

Translations

Noun

manuscript ‎(plural manuscripts)

1. A book, composition or any other document, written by hand (or manually typewritten), not mechanically reproduced.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:

     In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.

   • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:

     The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, […] . Scribes, illuminators, and scholars held such stones directly over manuscript pages as an aid in seeing what was being written, drawn, or read.

2. A single, original copy of a book, article, composition etc, written by hand or even printed, submitted as original for (copy-editing and) reproductive publication.

Abbreviations

• ms or ms.

Derived terms

• manuscriptal
• manuscription

Synonyms

• handwrit
• autograph
• handwriting

Related terms

• script

Translations

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: man‧u‧script

Etymology

From Medieval Latin manuscrīptum ‎(“writing by hand”), neuter of manuscrīptus.

Noun

manuscript n ‎(plural manuscripten, diminutive manuscriptje n)

1. A manuscript, written (not printed) text or composition
2. A manuscript submitted for reproductive publication

Synonyms

• (not reproduced) handschrift {n}}

Middle French

Noun

manuscript m (plural manuscripts)

1. manuscript

Descendants

• French: manuscrit