handschriftlich

handschriftlich is a German term meaning "handwritten" or "written by hand." It describes text produced without mechanical reproduction, typically with a pen or pencil on paper. The word combines Hand (hand) and Schrift (writing) with the suffix -lich, indicating a characteristic or manner.

In use, handschriftlich qualifies notes, documents, or forms to indicate handwriting rather than printing. Examples include "eine handschriftliche Notiz" or "handschriftliche Angaben." The term can function as an adjective ("handschriftliche Vermerke") or an adverbial phrase ("handschriftlich verfasst"). The opposite is usually implied by "gedruckt" or "gedruckte Schrift" rather than a separate adjective.

Historical context: Before and after the spread of printing, many texts were produced by hand. In German-speaking regions, historical handwriting forms such as Kurrentschrift and Sütterlinschrift are studied in paleography. Today, handwriting ranges from highly legible cursive to informal print-like scripts, reflecting education, culture, and personal habit.

Contemporary relevance: In administration and archival practice, marking a document as handschriftlich helps indicate authenticity, personalization, or a fallback when digital means are unavailable. Handwriting also poses challenges for digitization; optical character recognition (OCR) finds handwritten text harder to transcribe than printed text. Signatures and marginal notes continue to rely on handschriftlich writing in many contexts.

See also: handwriting, cursive, German script traditions such as Kurrentschrift and Sütterlin.