rukopisu

Rukopis is a Czech term that can refer to either handwriting or a manuscript, depending on context. In Czech, the nominative form is rukopis; rukopisu is the genitive singular used in phrases such as text rukopisu. In everyday use, rukopis denotes the act and result of writing by hand. Handwritten text varies with the writer, materials, and era, producing a range of styles from dense cursive to more restrained, block-like scripts. In many modern settings, handwriting is contrasted with typewritten or digital text, and it is a subject of education, forensic analysis, and design.

In archival and scholarly contexts, rukopis also means a manuscript – a document written by hand, often produced before the spread of printing. Such rukopisy may be held in libraries and archives and include religious, literary, legal, or administrative works. Paleography, the study of ancient and historical handwriting, uses rukopisy to determine dating, origin, and scribal practices; manuscript culture is closely linked to codices, parchment or paper, illumination, and marginalia.

In contemporary usage, rukopis can also refer to an author's manuscript submitted to a publisher, before it undergoes editing and layout. In digital technology, the term intersects with handwriting recognition (HTR) and optical character recognition (OCR) aimed at converting rukopisy into machine-readable text.

Rukopis remains a key source for historical linguistics, literary history, and cultural heritage, preserving how people wrote, read, and communicated across centuries.