grapho-, graph-, -graph, -graphy, -grapher, -graphia

(Greek: to scratch; to write, to record, to draw, to describe; that which is written or described)

As indicated at the bottom of this page, there is a significantly large number of graphic word-entry groups in this unit. Such an extensive listing is provided to show how important the grapho- element is to the English language.

biogeography (s) (noun), biogeographies (pl)
The science of the geographical distribution of living things, animal (zoogeography) and vegetable (phytogeography): Biogeography is the study of the geographical distributions of organisms, their habitats (ecological biogeography), and the historical and biological factors that produced them (historical biogeography).
biograph (s) (noun), biographs (pl)
1. A written presentation of a biography or life stories.
2. An instrument for analyzing and rendering visible the movements of animals; used in diagnosis of certain nervous diseases.
biographee (s) (noun), biographees (pl)
1. The contents of a biography.
2. The person whose life is described in a biography.
biographer (s) (noun), biographers (pl)
Someone who writes about the lives of other people and excluding oneself.
biographic (adjective), more biographic, most biographic
1. A reference to an account of someone’s life in the form of a book, movie, or television program, written or produced by another person.
2. Descriptive term for books about people’s lives, considered as a whole or as a type of literature.
Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.
—Soren Kierkegaard
biographical (adjective), more biographical, most biographical
1. Of, relating to, or dealing with a biography or the written account of another person's life.
2. Referring to, or pertaining to, people's lives when writing about them.
biography (s) (noun), biographies (pl)
1. The history of the lives of individual men and women, as a branch of literature.
2. The written record of the life of an individual.
3. The life-course of a man or other living being; the “life-history” of an animal or plant.

This is the best biography by me I have ever read.

—Lawrence Welk

A biography is a book that is usually written about a dead person because it is so unlike him when he was alive.

—Evan Esar
biological oceanography (s) (noun), biological oceanographies (pl)
The study of oceanic or sea life of plants and animal lives in relation to their marine environment.
bio-oceanography (s) (noun), bio-oceanographies (pl)
The study of the flora (plants) and fauna (animals) of oceans in relation to their marine environments.
biophysiograph (s) (noun), biophysiographies (pl)
The branch of biology that deals with the natural history of living organisms.
bioroentgenography (s) (noun), bioroentgenographies (pl)
An obsolete or out dated term for the making of x-ray pictures of objects in motion.
biostratigraphy (s) (noun), biostratigraphies (pl)
The study and classification of rock sections based on their fossil contents.
black dermatographia (s) (noun), black dermatographias (pl)
The discoloration of the skin by metal that appears after rubbing on it with a blunt point: Black dermatographias are often the result of scratches, involving contact with other materials, and it can be confused with an allergic reaction, when in fact it is the act of being scratched that causes an image to appear.

These black dermatographias appear within minutes, in some cases accompanied by itching.

In normal situations, the swelling of black dermatographias will decrease without treatment within 15–30 minutes; however, in extreme cases, itchy red welts may last anywhere from a few hours to several days.

blastography (s) (noun), blastographies (pl)
The scientific description of the buds of plants or the botany of vegetations.
body plethysmograph (s), body plethysmographs (pl) (nouns)
A body area that is used to measure lung volume and pressure.

This body plethysmograph device is used for studying alveolar pressures, lung volumes, and airway resistance. The patient sits or reclines in an airtight compartment and breathes normally.

The pressure of the body plethysmograph changes in the alveoli (tiny sac for holding air in the lungs) when it is alternated by the direction of motions in the compartment and are recorded automatically.

Related "writing" word units: glypto-; gram-; scrib-, script-.