From Italian 'graffito' (a scratching), from Greek 'graphein' (to write) — preserving the ancient sense of scratching marks into surfaces.
Writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other public surface.
From Italian 'graffiti,' plural of 'graffito' (a scratching, a scribble), from 'graffiare' (to scratch), ultimately from Greek 'graphein' (to write, scratch). The Italian word was originally an archaeological term for ancient inscriptions scratched into walls, particularly at Pompeii. The connection to Greek 'graphein' runs through the original sense of 'scratching' — the earliest form of writing. The modern sense of unauthorized public writing or art
The walls of Pompeii, preserved under volcanic ash since 79 CE, contain thousands of ancient graffiti — and they are strikingly similar to modern ones. Alongside political slogans and advertisements, archaeologists have found love declarations ('Successus the weaver loves the innkeeper's slave girl'), boasts, insults, and even reviews of gladiators. The human impulse to write on walls has not changed