paraph means A flourish made after or below one's signature, originally to prevent forgery. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
paraph is pronounced /ˈpaɹəf/.
Why “paraph” is a great word
PARAPH — [Noun] A flourish made after or below a signature, originally as a precaution against forgery, or a mark used by medieval scribes to indicate a textual division. From Middle English paraf, from Medieval Latin paraffus or its source Middle French paraphe, a shortening of paragraphe, from Ancient Greek παράγραφος (parágraphos, "a line in the margin, paragraph"). Unlike a "signature" (which is the declarative name itself) or a "rubric" (which is a formal heading), a paraph is the shadow-art of authentication, a filigree of personal ciphers. It is the final, inky whirl at the bottom of a royal charter; the precise, vermilion asterisk in a vellum margin where a new thought begins; the idiosyncratic scroll that transforms a mere name into a guarded seal. It is the minor poetry of bureaucracy, a whisper of individuality against the tide of standardized form.
noun
- A flourish made after or below one's signature, originally to prevent forgery.
- A mark used by medieval rubricators to indicate textual division.“Commencing with a C-shaped paraph-sign in the same brown ink, the glosses are linked to their corresponding passages by alphabetic signs comprising single letters in a sequence beginning with a in each margin, moving on to b, c, and d down the page, and, ideally, linking with the same letter in the adjacent column. Such a pairing allows for matching the gloss with the specific location in the text”
verb
- To add a paraph to; to sign, especially with one's initials.