PURPOSE: To provide an alphabet recognizing device which is small and suits workability and mass-productivity by reducing recognition processing quantity and shortening processing time.

CONSTITUTION: A rectangle circumscribing the input character of a picture input is executed a circumscribed rectangle detection processing (S1-S2), the distribution of black picture elements inside the rectangle is pickedup as a graphic characteristic (S3) and it is compared with the graphic characteristic in the recognition object character of a recognition dictionary so as to process the recognition of the character with the similar characteristic (S4). Unless the similar characteristic exists in the recognition dictionary, the picture inside the rectangle is judged as the candidate of the contact character where the character is brought into contact with the character (S5). When the rectangle having the characteristic being similar to the graphic characteristic of the rectangle is registered in a contact character dictionary, it is adopted as the recognition result of the rectangle (S6-S7). The character of the pictures inside the respective rectangles are division-processed one by one by a histogram in the longitudinal direction of the black picture element and a contour shape (S8). When the recognition result of the rectangle after division is obtained, the graphic characteristic of the rectangle before division and the recognition result of the respective rectangles after division are registered in the contact character dictionary with the rectangle before division as the one where the character is brought into contact with the character (S9).