1. (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, a certain style of letters used in ancient manuscripts, esp. in Greek and Latin manuscripts. The letters are somewhat rounded, and the upstrokes and downstrokes usually have a slight inclination. These letters were used as early as the 1st century b. c., and were seldom used after the 10th century a. d., being superseded by the cursive style.

2. (n.) An uncial letter.

aboriginal allographic alphabetarian alphabetic antenatal apprentice articled clerk autochthonous beginner beginning boot budding capital catechumen certified teacher creative dabbler debutant dilettante docent doctor dominie don educationist educator elemental elementary embryonic entrant fellow fetal fledgling formative foundational freshman fundamental gestatory graphemic greenhorn guide guru ideographic ignoramus in embryo in its infancy in the bud inaugural inceptive inchoate inchoative incipient incunabular inductee infant infantile initial initiate initiative initiatory instructor introductory inventive lettered lexigraphic literal logogrammatic logographic lower-case maestro majuscule master melamed mentor minuscular minuscule mullah nascent natal neophyte new boy newcomer nonprofessional novice novitiate original pandit parturient pedagogist pedagogue pictographic postnatal postulant preceptor pregnant prenatal primal primary prime primeval primitive primogenial probationer probationist procreative professor pundit rabbi raw recruit recruit rookie rudimental rudimentary schoolkeeper schoolmaster schoolteacher smatterer starets teacher tenderfoot transliterated tyro uncial upper-case ur