This is a list of shorthands, both modern and ancient. Currently, only one shorthand (Duployan) has been given an ISO code, in preparation for inclusion in the Unicode Standard, although the Tironian et has already been included in Unicode.
Script name | ISO 15924 | Year created | Creator | Primary languages | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abbreviated Longhand [1] | 1908 | Angus Weaver | English | Short forms based around longhand writing. | |
Abbreviatrix | 1945 | William Paul Mishkin | |||
Aimé Paris Shorthand [2] | 1820 | Aimé Paris | French | ||
Alpha Hand [3] | |||||
AgiliWriting [4] | |||||
Bezenšek Shorthand [5] | 1923 | Anton Bezenšek | Bulgarian | ||
Boyd's Syllabic Shorthand [6] | 1903 | Robert Boyd | English | ||
Brachygraphie (Folkingham) [7] | 1622 | William Folkingham | English | ||
Brachygraphy (Bales) [8] | 1590 | Peter Bales | English | ||
Brachygraphy (Dix) [9] | 1641 | Henry Dix | English | ||
Brachygraphy (Shelton) [10] | 1672 | Samuel Shelton | English | Based on Thomas Shelton's Tachygraphy from whom he first learned shorthand. | |
Burmese Shorthand | 1952 | Zwe Ohn Chein | Burmese | ||
Burnz' Fonic Shorthand | 1896 | Eliza Boardman Burnz | English | ||
Carissimi Shorthand [11] | 1940 | Juan Antonio Carissimi | Spanish | ||
Caton Scientific Shorthand [12] [13] | Thomas Jasper Caton | ||||
Century 21 Shorthand [14] | |||||
Characterie [15] | 1588 | Timothy Bright | English | ||
Conen de Prépean Shorthand [16] | 1813 | Louis Félix Conen de Prépean | French | ||
Coulon de Thévenot Shorthand [17] | 1776 | Jean Coulon de Thévenot | French | ||
Current Shorthand [18] | 1892 | Henry Sweet | English | ||
Cursive Shorthand [19] | 1889 | Hugh Longbourne Callendar | English | ||
Dacomb Shorthand [20] | 1934 | Beatrice Eliza Dacomb | English | ||
Dement's Aristography [21] | 1896 | Isaac Strange Dement | |||
Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift [22] | 1924 | German | Used in Germany. | ||
Duployé Shorthand [23] | Dupl 755 | 1868 | Émile Duployé | French, Romanian, English, Chinook Jargon | |
Dutton Speedwords [24] | 1922 | Reginald J. G. Dutton | English, French, German, Latin | Intended as an International auxiliary language | |
EasyScript Speed Writing [25] | |||||
Eclectic Shorthand [26] | 1878 | J.G. Cross | English | ||
Edmond Willis's Shorthand [27] | 1627 | Edmond Willis | English | ||
Faulmann Shorthand [28] | 1875 | Carl Faulmann | German | ||
Forkner shorthand [29] | 1952 | Hamden L. Forkner | English | ||
Gabelsberger shorthand [30] | 1817 (approx.) | Franz Xaver Gabelsberger | German | ||
Graham shorthand [31] | |||||
Gregg Shorthand [32] | 1888 | John Robert Gregg | English, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish | ||
Gregg Computer Shorthand / Productivity Plus [33] | |||||
Groote [34] | 1899 | Arnold Willem Groote | Dutch | Used in the Netherlands | |
Herout-Mikulík [35] | Alois Herout and Svojmír Mikulík | Czech | Used in the Czech parliament. | ||
Hy-Speed Longhand [36] | 1932 | Andrew Graham Sexton and R. B. Sexton | English | ||
Larralde Shorthand [37] | Gabriel Hilario Larralde | Spanish | Used in the Argentine congress. | ||
Legible Shorthand [38] | 1882 | Edward Pocknell | English | ||
Leite Alves Shorthand [39] | 1929 | Oscar Leite Alves | Portuguese | ||
Lightning Legible Shorthand [40] | 1906 | David Rose Glass | English | ||
Malone Shorthand [41] | |||||
Maron Shorthand [39] | 1932 | Afonso Maron | Portuguese | ||
Melin Shorthand [42] | 1880 | Olof Werling Melin | Swedish | Dominant Shorthand system in Sweden. | |
Merrill Shorthand [43] [44] | 1942 | Albert Merrill | English | Also called ABC shorthand. | |
Michela Shorthand [45] | 1862 | Antonio Michela Zucco | Italian | Used in the Italian Senate and the Regional Council of Piedmont. | |
Moat's Short-hand Standard [46] | 1833 | Thomas Moat | English | ||
Munson Shorthand [47] | 1867 | James Eugene Munson | English | ||
National Simplex Shorthand [48] | 1919 | Rev. Percival Hubert Chase | |||
Natural Shorthand [49] | 1917 | August Mengelkamp | English | ||
New Art of Real Shorthand [50] | 1919 | John Malham-Dembleby | |||
New Rapid [51] | 1890 | C.E. McKee | |||
Notescript [52] | 1964 | Laurence F. Hawkins | English | ||
Paragon Shorthand [53] | 1895 | A. Lichtentag | |||
Personal Shorthand [54] | Carl W. Salser, C. Theo Yerian and Mark R. Salser | English | Originally called "Briefhand." | ||
Pitman Shorthand [55] | 1837 | Isaac Pitman | English | ||
Polygraphy [56] | 1747 | Aulay Macaulay | English | ||
Prévost-Delaunay Shorthand [57] | 1878 | Hippolyte Prévost and Albert Delaunay | French | ||
Reformed Phonetic Short-Hand [58] | 1868 | Andrew J. Marsh | English | ||
Scheithauer Shorthand | 1896 | Karl Friedrich Scheithauer | German | Used in Germany. | |
Scheithauer/Steinmetz Shorthand [59] | 2020 | Markus Steinmetz | German | Used in Germany. | |
Short-Writing [60] | 1690 | Theophilus Metcalfe | English | ||
Simson Shorthand [61] | 1881 | James Simson | English | ||
Speedwriting [62] | 1924 | Emma Dearborn | English | ||
State Unified Stenography System (GESS) [63] | 1937 | Nikolai Nikolaevich Sokolov | Russian | Used in the Soviet Union; also adapted for English, French, and some of the languages of the Soviet Union. | |
Stenographie [64] | 1618 | John Willis | English | ||
Stenography Compleated [65] | 1727 | James Weston | English | ||
Stenoscript | 1950 | Manuel C. Avancena | English | ||
Stiefografie [66] | 1966 | Helmut Stief | German | Used in Germany. | |
SuperWrite [67] | |||||
Tachygraphy [68] | 1626 | Thomas Shelton | English, French, German | Originally called "Short-Writing." | |
Taylor shorthand [69] | 1786 | Samuel Taylor | English | Also known as Universal Stenography | |
Teeline Shorthand [70] | 1968 | James Hill | English | ||
Thomas Natural Shorthand [71] | 1935 | Charles A. Thomas | English | ||
Tironian notes [72] | 63 BC | Marcus Tullius Tiro | Latin | ||
Typed Shorthand [73] | 1917 | William Baines | English | Also known as Baines' Typed Shorthand. | |
Universal English Shorthand [74] | about 1740 | John Byrom | English | ||
Wang-Krogdahl's system [75] | 1936 | Leif Wang and Olav Krogdahl | Norwegian | Used in the Norwegian parliament. | |
Weston's Short-hand [76] | 1727 | James Weston | English | ||
Zeiglographia | 1650 | Thomas Shelton | English | ||
Phillips Code [77] | 1879 | Walter P. Phillips | English | Intended for English transmitted over Telegraph in Morse code. | |
Evans Basic English Code [78] | 1947 | John Evans | English | Based on the earlier Phillips Code but for more general use. |
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos (narrow) and graphein. It has also been called brachygraphy, from Greek brachys (short), and tachygraphy, from Greek tachys, depending on whether compression or speed of writing is the goal.
Dutton Speedwords, transcribed in Speedwords as Dutton Motez, is an international auxiliary language as well as an abbreviated writing system using the English alphabet for all the languages of the world. It was devised by Reginald J. G. Dutton (1886–1970) who initially ran a shorthand college promoting Dutton Shorthand, then offered a mail order (correspondence) self-education course in Speedwords while still supporting the Dutton Shorthand. The business was continued by his daughter Elizabeth after his death.
Gregg shorthand is a system of shorthand developed by John Robert Gregg in 1888. Distinguished by its phonemic basis, the system prioritizes the sounds of speech over traditional English spelling, enabling rapid writing by employing elliptical figures and lines that bisect them. Gregg shorthand's design facilitates smooth, cursive strokes without the angular outlines characteristic of earlier systems like Duployan shorthand, thereby enhancing writing speed and legibility.
Teeline is a shorthand system developed in 1968 by James Hill, a teacher of Pitman Shorthand. It is accepted by the National Council for the Training of Journalists, which certifies the training of journalists in the United Kingdom.
Personal Shorthand, originally known as Briefhand in the 1950s, is a completely alphabetic shorthand.
Thomas Natural Shorthand is an English shorthand system created by Charles A. Thomas which was first published in 1935. Thomas described his system as "designed to meet the existing need for a simple, legible shorthand that is based on already familiar writing lines, and that is written with a minimum number of rules." The system has fallen into disuse with the decline of pen shorthand in the later 20th century, but the spirit of the system lives on in Teeline shorthand, with which it shares a number of characteristics.
Théodore-Pierre Bertin was the author of fifty-odd works on various subjects, but is primarily remembered as the person responsible for adapting Samuel Taylor's shorthand to the French language and introducing modern shorthand to France.
Speedwriting is the trademark under which three versions of a shorthand system were marketed during the 20th century. The original version was designed so that it could be written with a pen or typed on a typewriter. At the peak of its popularity, Speedwriting was taught in more than 400 vocational schools and its advertisements were ubiquitous in popular American magazines.
Forkner Shorthand is an alphabetic shorthand created by Hamden L. Forkner and first published in 1955. Its popularity grew through the 1980s as those who needed shorthand every day began to favor the easier learning curve of alphabetic systems to the more difficult symbol-based ones. Forkner was taught in high-schools and colleges throughout North America along with comparable shorthands such as AlphaHand, Speedwriting, Stenoscript and Personal Shorthand.
The Munson Shorthand system was a form of shorthand devised by James Eugene Munson, who was an official court stenographer in New York State. It is a slightly revised version of Pitman shorthand designed to make it more systematic.
Samuel Taylor was the British inventor of a widely used system of stenography.
Jeremiah Rich was an English stenographer, who published a pioneering system of shorthand writing.
Stenoscript or Stenoscript ABC Shorthand is a shorthand system invented by Manuel Claude Avancena (1923–1987) and first published in 1950. Encyclopædia Britannica, perhaps erroneously, claims it was based on a system published in London in 1607. An unrelated project also called Stenoscript was written by George A.S. Oliver and published in London in 1934.
Timothie Bright, M.D. (1551?–1615) was an English physician and clergyman, the inventor of modern shorthand.
The Duployan shorthand, or Duployan stenography, was created by Father Émile Duployé in 1860 for writing French. Since then, it has been expanded and adapted for writing English, German, Spanish, Romanian, Latin, Danish, and Chinook Jargon. The Duployan stenography is classified as a geometric, alphabetic stenography and is written left-to-right in connected stenographic style. The Duployan shorthands, including Chinook writing, Pernin's Universal Phonography, Perrault's English Shorthand, the Sloan-Duployan Modern Shorthand, and Romanian stenography, were included as a single script in version 7.0 of the Unicode Standard / ISO 10646
John Willis, was a British clergyman, stenographer and mnemonician. He developed a simple style of shorthand based on the work by Timothy Bright.
Eliza Boardman Burnz was a nineteenth century American shorthand inventor and promoter. Her simplified alphabet, arranged in the basis of Isaac Pitman's Phonography, was the subject of Mark Twain's essay A Simplified Alphabet.
Theophilus Metcalfe was an English stenographer. He invented a shorthand system that became popular, in particular, in New England, where it was used to record the Salem witch trials.
Thomas Molineux (1759–1850) was an English stenographer and schoolteacher.
A system of shorthand writing combining the principles of straight joinable and insertable vowel strokes and curved consanant strokes, both being subject to similar rules of hooks and length
Even so,scholars were troubled by some of the [President Woodrow] Wilson documents because of his habit of writing in Graham shorthand, an extinct system so little known as to be hieroglyphic today. Scholars examing Wilson papers in 1959 employed an 84-year-old man to decipher some of Wilson's notes. The old man was one of the few living persons who were familiar with the obsolete Graham system.