cacography

Definition

Bad spelling or punctuation, especially unintuitive spellings considered as a feature of a whole language or dialect.

Etymology

From caco- + -graphy, perhaps after Middle French cacographie.

Example Sentences

• "A phrase exhibits proofs of cacography, when the accents are misplaced, forgotten, or used erroneously."
• "In 1997, two American entrepreneurs, Robert Hoffer and Timothy Kay, formed a company called Typo.net to try to profit from Web surfers' cacography."
• "The soul of dialect is cacography, the deliberate misspelling of words for comic effect, which is the written equivalent of the malapropism."

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