monogram

English

Alternative forms

• monogramme (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From French monogramme, from the Classical Latin adjective monogrammus, from the conjectured Ancient Greek * μονόγραμμος (monógrammos, “outlined”, “drawn with single lines”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒ.nəˌɡɹæm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑ.nəˌɡɹæm/
• Rhymes: -ɒnəɡɹæm
• Hyphenation: mo‧no‧gram

Noun

monogram (plural monograms)

1. (obsolete) A picture drawn in line only, before the colour and/or shading is applied; an outline sketch.

References

• “†monogram, n.¹” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; Mar. 2010]

Etymology 2

Formed as mono- +‎ -gram, by analogy with epigram.

Noun

monogram (plural monograms)

1. (obsolete, rare) A sentence consisting of only one line, or an epigram consisting of only one verse, of poetry.

References

• “†monogram, n.²” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; Mar. 2010]

Etymology 3

The noun derives from the post-Classical Latin monogrammum, itself from the Byzantine Greek μονόγραμμον (monógrammon); compare the French and Middle French monogramme, as well as the Italian monogramma. The verb derives from the noun; compare the earlier adjective monogrammed and the slightly earlier noun monogramming.

Noun

The royal monogram of Marguerite of Lorraine (1615–1672), Duchess of Orléans and Alençon

monogram (plural monograms)

1. A design or motif composed of one or more letters, often intertwined, used as an identifying mark of an individual or institution; the letters are usually the initials of their names.

   Hyponym: Christogram

   • 2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Great Western Railway Craft Skills Award: Victoria Arcade”, in RAIL, number 946, page 59:

     It dates from 1909-1911, when the then District Railway (its DR monogram is on one of the roundels in the fine plasterwork) rebuilt its Victoria station.

Translations

a design composed of one or more letters used as an identifying mark

• Bulgarian: моногра́ма (bg) f (monográma)
• Catalan: monograma m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 花押字 (huāyāzì)

• Czech: monogram m
• Danish: monogram n
• Dutch: monogram (nl) n
• Esperanto: monogramo
• Finnish: monogrammi (fi)
• French: monogramme (fr) m
• German: Monogramm (de) n
• Greek: μονόγραμμα (el) n (monógramma)
• Hungarian: monogram (hu)
• Icelandic: fangamark
• Ido: monogramo (io)
• Italian: monogramma (it) m
• Japanese: モノグラム (monoguramu)
• Korean: 모노그램 (monogeuraem)
• Latvian: monogramma f
• Lithuanian: monograma f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: monogram n

  Nynorsk: monogram n

• Ottoman Turkish: علامت (ʼalamet), نشان (nişan)
• Polish: monogram (pl) m
• Portuguese: sigla (pt) f, monograma m
• Romanian: monogramă (ro) f
• Russian: моногра́мма (ru) f (monográmma), ве́нзель (ru) m (vénzelʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: монограм m

  Roman: monogram (sh) m

• Spanish: monograma (es) m
• Swedish: monogram (sv) n
• Turkish: monogram
• Ukrainian: моногра́ма f (monohráma)

See also

• royal cypher
• imperial cypher
• tughra

References

• “monogram, n.³” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; Mar. 2010]

Verb

monogram (third-person singular simple present monograms, present participle monogramming or monograming, simple past and past participle monogrammed or monogramed)

1. (transitive) To mark something with a monogram.

Translations

(transitive) to mark something with a monogram

• French: monogrammer (fr)
• German: monogrammieren (de)
• Hungarian: monogramoz
• Italian: incidere (it), contrassegnare (it), intagliare (it)

References

• “monogram, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; Mar. 2010]

Etymology 4

One of the symbols used in either the I Ching divination or the Taixuanjing divination.

1. the unbroken line ⚊ for Heaven
2. the once-broken line ⚋ for Earth
3. the twice-broken line 𝌀 for Man (only used in Taixuanjing divination)

Anagrams

• nomogram

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From mono- +‎ -gram.

Noun

monogram n (definite singular monogrammet, indefinite plural monogram or monogrammer, definite plural monogramma or monogrammene)

1. a monogram

References

• “monogram” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From mono- +‎ -gram.

Noun

monogram n (definite singular monogrammet, indefinite plural monogram, definite plural monogramma)

1. a monogram

References

• “monogram” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔˈnɔɡ.ram/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɡram
• Syllabification: mo‧nog‧ram

Noun

monogram m inan

1. monogram

Declension

Declension of monogram

	singular	plural
nominative	monogram	monogramy
genitive	monogramu	monogramów
dative	monogramowi	monogramom
accusative	monogram	monogramy
instrumental	monogramem	monogramami
locative	monogramie	monogramach
vocative	monogramie	monogramy

Further reading

• monogram in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• monogram in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Noun

monogram n (plural monograme)

1. Alternative form of monogramă

Declension

Declension of monogram

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) monogram	monogramul	(niște) monograme	monogramele
genitive/dative	(unui) monogram	monogramului	(unor) monograme	monogramelor
vocative	monogramule		monogramelor