grapheme (n.)

word-forming element meaning "process of writing or recording" or "a writing, recording, or description" (in modern use especially in forming names of descriptive sciences), from French or German -graphie, from Greek -graphia "description of," used in abstract nouns from graphein "write, express by written characters," earlier "to draw, represent by lines drawn," originally "to scrape, scratch" (on clay tablets with a stylus), from PIE root *gerbh- "to scratch, carve" (see carve).

in linguistics, noted as an active suffix and word-formation element from 1953; from French -ème "unit, sound," from phonème (see phoneme).

"writing made by another person," by 1900, from allo- "other" + -graph "something written." Especially in law, "a deed not written by any of the parties to it." The linguistics sense of "form of an alphabetic letter" is from 1951; here the second element is abstracted from grapheme. Related: Allographic.