-graphy

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title: "-graphy" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["english-suffixes", "lists-of-words"] description: "English language suffix" topic_path: "general/english-suffixes" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-graphy" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English language suffix ::

The English suffix -graphy denotes either a field of study or a manner of writing or representation. It derives from the French {{linktext|-graphie}}, which in turn comes from the Latin {{linktext|-graphia}}, itself a transliteration of the Greek {{linktext|-γραφία}} (grc).

Because -graphy begins with a consonant, it is usually joined to a combining form that provides the linking vowel -o- (e.g. photo- + -graphy). This follows the pattern of neo-classical word formation, in which new English words are built from Greek and Latin elements in imitation of Greek compound and derivative structures.{{cite journal |last=Prćić |first=Tvrtko |title=Exploring the Properties of English Lexical Affixes by Exploiting the Resources of English General-Purpose Dictionaries |journal=Lexikos |year=2019 |volume=29 |pages=1–29 |doi=10.5788/29-1-1516 |url=https://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2224-00392019000100007 |issn=2224-0039 |doi-access=free

Arts and communication

• Biography – an account of a person's life
  • Autobiography – biography of a person written by themselves
    • Autobiogeography – a self-referential map or other geographic document created by the subject
  • Hagiography – biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader
  • Metabiography – the study of how biographies are shaped by the temporal, geographical, institutional, intellectual, and ideological contexts of their authors
  • Photobiography – biography told primarily through photographs, often accompanied by brief textual commentary
  • Psychobiography – biographical study that interprets a subject's life and behavior through psychological theory or analysis
• Choreography – the art of creating and arranging dances or ballets.
• Cinematography – the art of making lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema
• Floriography – the language of flowers
• Iconography – the art of interpreting the content by icons.
• Klecksography – the art of making images from inkblots.
• Lexicography – the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries.
• Photography – the art, practice or occupation of taking and printing photographs.
  • Astrophotography – the photography or imaging of astronomical objects
  • Chronophotography – the photographic technique which captures a number of phases of movements
  • Heliography – an early photographic process, based on the hardening of bitumen in sunlight
  • Rephotography – the act of photographing the same site twice, with a time lag between the two images
  • Telephotography – the sending of photographs by telegraph, telephone or radio
• Pornography – the practice, occupation and result of producing sexually arousing imagery or words.
• Pyrography – the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks
• Reprography – the reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means
• Scenography – the art of theatrical design and stage scenery
• Tasseography – a divination or fortune-telling method that interprets patterns in tea leaves
• Telegraphy – the long-distance transmission of messages
• Typography – the art and techniques of type design.
• Videography – the art and techniques of filming video.
• Vitrography – a method of using laser beams to create three-dimensional images or designs inside solid glass

Printing

• Cerography – a printmaking technique using a layer of wax over a metal substrate
• Collagraphy – In printmaking, a fine art technique in which collage materials are used as ink-carrying imagery on a printing plate.
• Flexography – a printing process using a flexible relief plate
• Geomontography – a printing method, used primarily for the production of maps
• Hectography – a duplicating process using gelatin plates
• Lithography – a planographic printing technique
  • Chromolithography – a method for making multi-colour prints in lithography
  • Photolithography – the method for microfabrication in electronics manufacturing.
• Mimeography – a duplicating process using stencils
• Serigraphy – a printmaking technique that uses a stencil made of fine synthetic material through which ink is forced
• Vitreography – in printmaking, a fine art technique that uses glass printing matrices
• Xerography – the means of copying documents
• Zincography – a planographic printing process that used zinc plates

Writing

• Cacography – bad handwriting or spelling
• Calligraphy – the art of fine handwriting
• Chorography – the art of describing or mapping a region or district
• Dittography – accidental repetition of letters or words when copying text
• Garshunography – the use of the script of one language to write utterances of another language which already has a script associated with it; also known as allography or heterography
• Haplography – accidental omission of repeated letters when writing
• Ideography – the use of symbols to represent a concept or idea.
• Orthography – the rules of correct writing.
• Palaeography – the study of historical handwriting
• Phonography – representation of sounds by written symbols; also known as Pitman shorthand
• Pictography – the use of pictographs
• Pseudepigraphy – falsely attributed writings
• Psychography – a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing
• Steganography – the art of writing hidden messages
• Stenography – the art of writing in shorthand.

Archival and compilatory lists

• Bibliography – a list of writings, typically those used or considered by an author in preparing a particular work or research.
  • Metabibliography – bibliography of bibliographies.
• Discography – a list of recorded music, or other sound recordings/auditory media.
• Filmography – a list of films, documentaries, or other visual media.
• Ludography (or gameography) – a list of games, specifically video games.
• Webography (or webliography or arachniography) – a list of websites, or URLs

Fields of study

• Ampelography – the field of botany concerned with the identification and classification of grapevines
• Cartography – the study and making of maps.
• Chromatography – a chemical laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture
  • Electrochromatography
• Cryptography – the study of securing information
• Crystallography – the study of crystals
• Dactylography – the study of fingerprints for identification
• Demography – the study of the characteristics of human populations, such as size, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics
• Epigraphy – the study of written inscriptions on hard surfaces.
• Ethnography – the study of cultures and cultural phenomena.
• Geography – study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of the Earth.
  • Anthropogeography – study of human society's interactions and relationships with the environment.
  • Biogeography – study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time
  • Oceanography – exploration and scientific study of the ocean and its phenomena.
  • Orography – the study of mountains.
  • Physiography – study of the processes and patterns in the Earth's environment.
  • Stratigraphy — a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification)
    • Lithostratigraphy — a sub-discipline of stratigraphy
    • Stratigraphy (archaeology) — study of archaeological sedimentation for dating purposes
• Historiography – study of the methods of historians
• Holography – a technique for recording and reconstructing wavefronts, best known for generating three-dimensional images (holograms)
• Hydrography – measurement and description of any waters.
• Keraunography – the belief that lightning, when striking an object, can leave markings which constitute a photographic image of surrounding objects
• Monography – the study of a single specialized subject of the aspect of a subject.
• Pathography – study of the history of an individual or community with regard to the influence of a physical or mental condition.
• Polarography – a type of voltammetry
• Reprography – reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means.
• Topography – the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those of planets, moons and asteroids.
• Zoography – the study of animal description and their habits; descriptive zoology.

Astronomy

• Areography – the study and mapping of the physical features of the planet Mars
• Cosmography – the study and making of maps of the universe or cosmos
• Selenography – the study and mapping of the physical features of the Moon
• Uranography – the study and mapping of stars and space objects

Imaging techniques

• Radiography – an imaging technique that uses X-rays, other ionizing radiation, or non-ionizing radiation to visualize the internal structure of an object
  • Autoradiography – a photographic record of radiation from a radioactive source made by placing it close to a photographic emulsion
• Thermography – a technique that records infrared radiation emitted from an object's surface to generate a temperature distribution image
• Tomography – three-dimensional imaging

Medical tests

• Angiography – a medical imaging technique used to visualize the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, particularly the arteries and the heart chambers
• Cholangiography – imaging of bile ducts
• Electroencephalography – recording of voltages from the brain
• Electromyography – a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles{{cite journal | last1 = Herrero-Zorita | first1 = Carlos | last2 = Molina | first2 = Clara | last3 = Moreno-Sandoval | first3 = Antonio | title = Medical term formation in English and Japanese: A study of the suffixes -gram, -graph and -graphy | journal = Review of Cognitive Linguistics | year = 2015 | volume = 13 | issue = 1 | pages = 81–105 | doi = 10.1075/rcl.13.1.04her
• Mammography – an x-ray method used to examine the breast for detection of early-stage cancer and other diseases.
• Urography – an examination with an x-ray to evaluate the kidneys, ureters and bladder.
• Venography – a test that uses an x-ray moving pictures of blood in the veins of the legs and pelvis.
• Ultrasonography – a test that uses energy sound waves to observe tissues and organs.

References

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