My favorite Gregg shorthand symbols
This was written for this month's Bearblog Carnival. Thanks to Kami for hosting this event!
Gregg shorthand may be an obsolete writing system today, but it was among the important subjects that I learned in my office administration course. As one of my professors said, it was intended to be used for legal and medical transcription. Although I am becoming rusty in writing shorthand, I can still remember the alphabet (which uses symbols that are equivalent to different sounds) and some short forms.
A handwritten guide for Gregg shorthand symbols, compound forms, and vowel markings.
Gregg shorthand symbols
| a | e | i |
| s/z | f | v |
| s/z | p | b |
| o | r | l |
| u | k | g |
| n | m | men |
| t | d | ted/tid; det/dit |
| sh | ch | j |
| th | ten; den | tem; dem |
| th | ent; end | emt; emd |
| h | ng | ngk |
| def-v; dif-v; -tive | jent-d; pent-d | |
| x (ending only) |
Compounds
| qua | que | quo |
| au | eu | |
| ea | ia |
Vowel markings
| a | ah | ai/ei |
| e/i | eh | ee |
| o | ow; aw | oh |
| u | oo [short] | oo [long] |
This shorthand writing system was developed in 1888 by John Robert Gregg, an Irish-American educator who published 500 pamphlets of Light-Line Phonetic Hand-Writing. It makes use of equally thin curves and lines, which can be joined to represent a word or a phrase. It aims to make transcription as fast and legible as possible. It has been adapted into different languages such as Spanish, German, Filipino, and Esperanto!
Luckily, there are a few online resources for learning Gregg shorthand. These include Andrew Owen's online adaptation of Gregg Shorthand: A Light-line Phonography for the Million (Anniversary Edition) and Richard Liu's searchable dictionary. The former contains public domain e-books like 5,000 Most-Used Shorthand Forms and Fundamental Drills in Gregg Shorthand.
Anyway, here are my two favorite symbols in Gregg shorthand.
A handwritten list of words containing the jent-d / pent-d and def-v / dif-v / -tive symbols in Gregg shorthand.
Vocabulary
jent-d, pent-d
gentlemen, djent
| Word | Shorthand |
|---|---|
| Argentina | a-r-jent-e-n-a |
| argentite | a-r-jent-i-t |
| divergent | div-e-jent |
| magenta | m-a-jent-a |
| pageantry | p-a-jent-r-e |
| pentagon | pent-a-g-n |
| penthouse | pent-h-u-s |
| pungent | p-n-jent |
| regent | r-e-jent |
| serpent | s-e-pent |
| tangent | ten-jent |
def-v, dif-v, -tive
differ-ent, difference
| Word | Shorthand |
|---|---|
| additive | a-d-e-tive |
| commemorative | k-men-r-a-tive |
| defective | def-e-tive |
| defog | def-o-g |
| defragmentation | def-r-a-g-men-sh |
| development | dev-e-l-men |
| divest | div-e-s |
| festive | f-e-s-tive |
| initiative | e-n-e-sh-ia-tive |
| motive | m-o-tive |
| qualitative | k-u-tive |
| quantitative | k + tive [start mid-k] |
| tentative | ten-t-a-tive |
| ultimative | u-tem-a-tive |
Taking up a full space between two lines, these symbols resemble the slanted letter U and its upside-down counterpart, respectively. However, they are rarely used in Gregg shorthand due to the limited amount of words with the aforementioned sounds. In fact, I had to create shorthand equivalents of some words beyond the linked resources (like djent and ultimative).
If I only had excellent shorthand writing skills, I could transcribe human speech quickly and efficiently. At least, I can use these regressing skills for my art pieces like this pixel postcard.
References:
Eligado, F. A., & Yacat, L. A. (1988). Istenong Filipino: Unang aklat. National Book Store, Inc.
Greenberg, S. V. (1924). Gregg shorthand adapted to the German language. The Gregg Publishing Company.
Gregg, J. R., & Zoubek, C. E., & de Merle, L. R. (1990). Taquígrafia Gregg: Version integrada (Edicion centenaria). McGraw-Hill.
Jackson, E. L. (1918). Gregg shorthand adapted to Esperanto. The Gregg Publishing Company.
"John Robert Gregg." Encyclopedia of world biography. Retrieved May 09, 2026 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/john-robert-gregg