manuscript

English

Etymology

1597, from Medieval Latin manuscriptum (“writing by hand”), from Latin manu (ablative of manus (“hand”)) + scriptus (past participle of scribere (“to write”)), calqued from a word of Germanic origin, compare Middle High German hantschrift, hantgeschrift (“manuscript”) (c. 1450), Old English handġewrit (“what is written by hand, deed, contract, manuscript”) (before 1150), Old Norse handrit (“manuscript”) (before 1300).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

manuscript (not comparable)

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

Translations

handwritten, or by extension typewritten

• Arabic: مخطوطة‎‎ f (maxṭuṭa)
• Bashkir: ҡулъяҙма (qulʺyaðma), ҡулдан (quldan) яҙылған (yaðïlğan)
• Catalan: manuscrit (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 手寫的, 手写的 (shǒuxiě de)

• Dutch: handgeschreven (nl), geschreven (nl)
• Finnish: käsin kirjoitettu
• French: manuscrit (fr)
• Georgian: ხელნაწერი (xelnac̣eri), მანუსკრიპტი (ka) (manusḳriṗṭi)
• German: Handscrift, Manuskript (de)
• Greek: χειρόγραφο (el) n (cheirógrafo)
• Italian: manoscritto (it)

• Japanese: 手書きの (てがきの, tegaki-no)
• Khmer: អក្សរដៃ (aksɑɑ day)
• Malay: manuskrip
• Persian: دست‌نویس‎‎ (dast-nevis)
• Polish: odręczny (pl), rękopiśmienny
• Portuguese: manuscrito (pt)
• Russian: рукопи́сный (ru) (rukopísnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рукописни, руком писани

  Roman: rukopisni (sh), rukom pisani

• Spanish: manuscrito (es) m
• Walloon: scrît al mwin m

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
• typescript

Translations

book, composition or any other document, written by hand

• Afrikaans: manuskrip
• Arabic: مَخْطُوطَة‎‎ f (maḵṭūṭa), مَخْطُوط‎‎ m (maḵṭūṭ)
• Armenian: մատյան (hy) (matyan), ձեռագիր (hy) (jeṙagir)
• Bashkir: ҡулъяҙма (qulʺyaðma)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: manuscrit (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 手稿 (zh) (shǒugǎo), 手抄本 (shǒuchāoběn), 原稿 (zh) (yuángǎo)

• Czech: rukopis m
• Danish: håndskrift n, manuskript n
• Dutch: manuscript (nl) n, handschrift (nl) n
• Esperanto: manuskripto, manskribaĵo
• Estonian: käsikiri
• Finnish: käsikirjoitus (fi)
• French: manuscrit (fr) m
• Georgian: ხელნაწერი (xelnac̣eri)
• German: Handschrift (de) f
• Greek: χειρόγραφο (el) n (cheirógrafo)
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: kézirat (hu)
• Italian: manoscritto (it) m
• Japanese: 手書き原稿 (てがきげんこう, tegaki-genkō), 写本 (しゃほん, shahon), 手写本 (しゅしゃぼん, shushabon), マニュスクリプト (manyusukuriputo)
• Khmer: សាត្រាស្លឹករឹត (sattra slǝk riit), សាស្ត្រា (saahstraa), គម្ពីរ (km) (kumpii), ក្រាំង (km) (kraŋ)

• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ໜັງສື​​ໃບລານ (nang sư̄ bai lān), ຫນັງສື​​ໃບລານ (nang sư̄ bai lān)
• Latvian: rokraksts m, manuskripts m
• Lithuanian: rankraštis (lt) m, manuskriptas (lt) m
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: manuskript n
• Occitan: manuscrich (oc) m, manuscrit
• Old English: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: دست‌نوشته‎‎ (fa) (dast-nevešte), نسخه خطی‎‎ (nosxe-ye xatti)
• Polish: rękopis (pl) m, manuskrypt (pl) m
• Portuguese: manuscrito (pt) m
• Romanian: manuscris (ro)
• Russian: ру́копись (ru) f (rúkopisʹ), манускри́пт (ru) m (manuskrípt)
• Scottish Gaelic: làmh-sgrìobhainn f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рукопис m

  Roman: rȕkopīs (sh) m

• Spanish: manuscrito (es) m
• Swedish: manuskript (sv), handskrift (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: yazma (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: papîscrît (wa) m

book, article etc, submitted for reproductive publication

• Armenian: բնագիր (hy) (bnagir), ձեռագիր (hy) (jeṙagir)
• Bashkir: ҡулъяҙма (qulʺyaðma)
• Catalan: manuscrit (ca) m, original (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 原稿 (zh), 草稿 (zh) (cǎogǎo)

• Czech: rukopis m
• Danish: manuskript n
• Dutch: manuscript (nl) n, kopij (nl) f
• Esperanto: manuskripto
• Finnish: käsikirjoitus (fi)
• French: manuscrit (fr) m
• Greek: χειρόγραφο (el) n (cheirógrafo)
• Hungarian: kézirat (hu)
• Italian: manoscritto (it) m

• Japanese: 原稿 (ja) (げんこう, genkō), 草稿 (そうこう, sōkō), 稿本 (こうほん, kōhon), 稿 (ja) (こう, kō), 記録 (ja) (きろく, kiroku)
• Latvian: rokraksts m, manuskripts m
• Norwegian: manuskript n
• Occitan: manuscrich (oc)
• Polish: maszynopis m, rękopis (pl) m
• Portuguese: manuscrito (pt) m
• Russian: ру́копись (ru) f (rúkopisʹ), манускри́пт (ru) m (manuskrípt)
• Scottish Gaelic: làmh-sgrìobhainn f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рукопис m

  Roman: rȕkopīs (sh) m

• Spanish: manuscrito (es) m
• Swedish: manuskript (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} dorëshkrim ?
• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} مَخْطَوطَة كِتَابِيَّة‎‎ f
• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} ръкопис m (rǎkopis)
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} käsikiri
• German: ^{(please verify)} Manuskript (de) n, ^{(please verify)} Handschrift (de) f, ^{(please verify)} Kodex (de) m
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} כְּתַב יָד‎‎ m
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} हस्तलेख (hastalekh), ^{(please verify)} हस्तलिपि (hastalipi)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} naskah (id)
• Korean: (sabon) ^{(please verify)} 사본 (ko) (sabon), (wongo) ^{(please verify)} 원고 (ko) (won-go)
• Latvian: ^{(please verify)} rokraksts m, ^{(please verify)} manuskripts m

• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} rankraštis (lt), ^{(please verify)} manuskriptas (lt)
• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} manuskritt m
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} manuscris (ro) m
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} manuskript m
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} rukopis m
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} rokopis (sl) m
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} manuskrito, ^{(please verify)} orihinal
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} เอกสารที่เขียนด้วยมือ (àyk săan têe kĭan dûay meu), ^{(please verify)} ต้นฉบับ (th) (dtôn chàbàp), ^{(please verify)} ต้นร่าง (dtôn râang), ^{(please verify)} ระบับ (rábàp)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} el yazması (tr)
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} рукопис m (rukopys)

---

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: man‧u‧script

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

---

Middle French

Noun

manuscript m (plural manuscripts)

1. manuscript

Descendants

• French: manuscrit