autograph

autograph — noun

1. a celebrity's own name, written by hand on something like a photo, book, or shir

1.nounB2
Definition

a celebrity's own name, written by hand on something like a photo, book, or shirt, which a fan keeps as a souvenir.

Example

Mia waited two hours outside the stadium just to get Messi's autograph on her jersey.

get + someone's autograph

The actor signed his autograph on a small notebook for a young fan in the front row.

sign + autograph

Common collocations
  • get someone's autograph
  • ask for an autograph
  • sign an autograph
  • an autograph book
  • autograph hunter
Synonyms
  • signature

    a more general word; used for documents and forms, not just for fans

Grammar Patterns

someone's autograph

Usage Note

Distinguish from the everyday word 'signature': an autograph is given as a keepsake by a celebrity to a fan, while a signature is what anyone writes on a contract, letter, or cheque.

Common Mistakes

Please put your autograph on this contract.
Please put your signature on this contract.
autographs are for fans and souvenirs, not legal documents.

autograph — verb

autograph — adjective

Word family

  • autographed
    adjectiveB2
  • autographic
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words refer to a name written by hand, but the situations differ. An 'autograph' is something a famous person gives to a fan as a souvenir — it carries no legal weight, only emotional or collector value. A 'signature' is the everyday word: anyone, famous or not, signs contracts, letters, cheques, and forms with a signature, and only a signature counts in court. An 'inscription' goes further: it is a short personal message ('To Sam, with thanks') written and signed inside a book or on a photo. 'John Hancock' is informal American English for a signature on a document, named after the bold name on the Declaration of Independence — you might hear 'Just put your John Hancock here.' So a fan asks Beyoncé for her autograph, the bank wants your signature, the author adds an inscription, and the lawyer asks for your John Hancock.

autograph ↗signature ↗inscriptionJohn Hancock

Common collocations

Nouns

  • autograph book
  • autograph hunter
  • autograph session
  • autograph signing

Adverbs

Phrases

  • sign autographs
  • ask for an autograph
  • collect autographs

Prepositions

  • on (a book/photo)
  • for (a fan)

Etymology

GreekLatinFrenchEnglish

Built from two Greek roots: 'autos' meaning 'self' and 'graphos' meaning 'written'. The word entered English in the early 1600s through Latin and French, first describing a person's own handwriting (still the adjective sense). The 'celebrity signature' meaning grew popular in the 1800s, as fans began collecting the handwritten names of writers, performers, and politicians as keepsakes. The verb formed later from the noun, by the late 1800s.