# Genealogy glossary

Definitions of the terms a researcher meets in the sources themselves.

- [GEDCOM](https://kleiobase.com/what-is/gedcom): GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) is the long-standing standard file format for exchanging family-tree data - people, families, events, and sources - between different genealogy programs.
- [Genealogical transcription](https://kleiobase.com/what-is/genealogical-transcription): Genealogical transcription is the process of reading a historical document - handwritten or printed - and producing an accurate written copy of its text, preserving the original wording as closely as possible.
- [Paleography](https://kleiobase.com/what-is/paleography): Paleography is the scholarly study of historical handwriting systems - how letters were formed, how scripts evolved over time, and how to read documents written in scripts that are no longer in everyday use.
- [Census record](https://kleiobase.com/what-is/census-record): A census record is an official government enumeration of a population at a specific point in time, recording each household's members with details such as names, ages, occupations, and birthplaces.
- [Negative evidence](https://kleiobase.com/what-is/negative-evidence): Negative evidence is an inference drawn from the absence of information that should have been present under the circumstances - not merely the fact that a search found nothing, but what that silence allows you to conclude.

Canonical: https://kleiobase.com/what-is