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The second part of hagiography is familiar: the combining form -graphy, which comes from the Greek verb graphein, meaning "to write," is found in biography and calligraphy (among many others) too. Hagio-, however, is more unusual; it comes from a Greek word that meant "holy, sacred" in Ancient Greek and more recently "saintly," by way of the term Hagiographa, another name for the Ketuvim, the third part of the Jewish Scriptures. English's hagiography can refer to biography of actual saints, but it is more typically applied to biography that treats ordinary human subjects as if they were saints.
Examples of hagiography in a Sentence
New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
Super Nintendo, as the title suggests, is a hagiography.
—Alexander Kaplan, The Washington Examiner, 20 Mar. 2026
The hagiography continued even as a new generation of Latinos came of age not knowing anything about him other than an occasional school lesson or television segment.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026
But the documentary is an ungainly blend of ultra-earnest hagiography and trashy true-crime sensationalism, without being completely satisfying as either.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 13 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Hagiography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hagiography. Accessed 5 May. 2026.
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