manuscript
man·u·script/ˈmæn.jəˌskɹɪpt/adjective, noun
manuscript is spelled M-A-N-U-S-C-R-I-P-T: 10 letters and 3 syllables (man·u·script). It appears 8.3 times per million words in written English, the 8,036th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, manuscript means “Handwritten, or by extension manually typewritten, as opposed to being mechanically reproduced” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in manuscript?
| Letters | 10: M-A-N-U-S-C-R-I-P-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: man·u·script |
| In writing | 8.3 times per million words; the 8,036th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is manuscript?
Manuscript appears 8.3 times per million words in written English, the 8,036th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce manuscript?
- /ˈmæn.jəˌskɹɪpt/
Manuscript has 3 syllables, split man·u·script in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-manuscript.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of manuscript
- manuscripts plural
- ms
- ms.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does manuscript mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Handwritten, or by extension manually typewritten, as opposed to being mechanically reproduced.
noun
- 1
A book, composition or any other document, written by hand (or manually typewritten), not mechanically reproduced.
- 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate manuscript?
Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of manuscript: MS, MS., ms, ms..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Manuscript in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense handwritten, or by extension typewritten:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | manuscrit |
| German | Handschrift, Manuskript |
| Portuguese | manuscrito |
| Spanish | manuscrito |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does manuscript come from?
1597, from Medieval Latin manūscrīptus, a calque of Germanic origin, equivalent to Latin manū (ablative of manus (“hand”)) + Latin scrīptus (past participle of scribere (“to write”)). Not found in Classical Latin.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).