Etymologically
Log in

matte

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 15:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

matte1 dull, not glossy

Etymology

The adjective meaning dull is borrowed from French mat (“dull, lustreless”), feminine matte,[2][3][4][5][6] from Old French mat (“beaten down, withered, dejected; dull”).[2][7][5][8] Barnhart thinks the English adjective probably developed from the verb, which is recorded from 1602 and is borrowed from French mater (“to make dull”), and was only partly borrowed directly from the French adjective.[7][4] The origin of the Old French word is uncertain.[2][3] Most dictionaries derive it, perhaps, from Latin mattus (“drunk, stupefied”),[2][7][9][8] possibly from *maditus (“soaked”), from madeō (“to be wet, to be drunk”),[7][9][3] from Proto-Indo-European *mad- (“to be wet, drip”).[2][7] Klein and Etymonline instead take it from the chess term behind checkmate, which goes back to Arabic, with the sense passing from "checkmated, defeated" to "dejected" and "dull".[5][2] The noun, the border of a picture, is the French mat, a dull surface or finish, the adjective used as a noun.[10][7][2] The film matte is of uncertain origin: the OED suggests it is perhaps the same noun, used of a board covering part of a picture, and notes that the French-looking spelling has no matching use in French.[10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make colours or a surface dull, to give it a dull finish: 1602.[7][8][4] The adjective, "without lustre, dull", followed before 1648 (Barnhart) or in the 1640s (Etymonline).[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the noun came in for a border around a framed picture, recorded from 1845;[7][2][8] the OED thinks it came in through photography, where borders of unburnished, dull gold were fashionable for daguerreotypes.[10] It was also used of a dull, unburnished finish on metal (1852) and in glass painting of a layer of colour smoothed over the glass (1881).[10][4] In film-making a matte was first an object that blacked out part of the image for vignettes and split screens (1917, Etymonline),[2] and then a mask used to replace the background of a scene with another, often painted, one;[10][8] the OED dates the noun in this sense from 1938 and the verb from 1928.[10] Matte painting is attested by 1934.[2] The spelling matte was rare before the late 19th century and became standard only in the mid-20th;[2] it is now the usual American spelling, while British English also has matt and mat.[11][8]

Timeline

  • 1602 – verb, to make dull.[7][8]
  • 1640s – adjective, lustreless, dull.[2][3]
  • 1845 – noun, an ornamental border around a picture.[10][7][8]
  • 1852 – a dull finish on metal.[10]
  • 1881 – in glass painting, a smoothed layer of colour.[10]
  • 1917 – in film, a mask blacking out part of the image.[2]
  • 1928 – verb, to block out or add an image with a matte.[10]
  • 1934 – matte painting.[2]
  • 1938 – noun, a mask used to replace the background of a shot.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having a dull surface without gloss or lustre; not shiny: a matte finish on the photographs.[8][4][11]

Noun

  1. A border of cardboard or other material placed around a picture inside its frame; a mount.[8][10][11]
  2. A dull, lustreless surface or finish, as on metal.[8][10]
  3. In film and television, a mask that blocks out part of an image so that another image, such as a painted background, can be put in its place.[8][10][11]

Verb

  1. To give a dull finish to metal, glass or colours.[8][4]
  2. To block out or add part of an image by means of a matte.[10]
  3. To mount a picture in a matte.[8][2]

matte2 impure metal sulphide

Etymology

The metallurgical noun is borrowed from French matte,[10][2][12][9][11] recorded in French in this sense from 1627, and in Middle French from the 15th century in the sense "curds".[10][12] It is the feminine of the adjective mat, used as a noun.[10][4][2] The American Heritage Dictionary derives it from an obsolete French mat, compact, from Old French mat (“dull”), from Latin mattus (“stupefied”).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A molten mass of impure metal sulphides formed in smelting: 1825, in a letter of J. H. Vivian quoted in J. Taylor's Records of Mining.[10][8] Etymonline dates it from 1839.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its technical sense: the impure, unfinished product of smelting sulphide ores of copper, nickel, lead and similar metals.[10][8][2] Merriam-Webster also records a verb, to convert ore into matte.[8]

Timeline

  • 1627 – French matte in this sense.[10]
  • 1825 – the product of smelting sulphide ores.[10][8]
  • 1839 – date given by Etymonline.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An impure mixture of metal sulphides produced in smelting the sulphide ores of copper, nickel, lead and other metals.[8][11][10][4]

Verb

  1. To convert ore into matte.[8]

Usage notes

Matte is also a variant spelling of maté, the South American tea.[8] An unrelated matte occurs in the 16th-century oath by the matte, probably a euphemistic alteration of mass.[10] The spellings matte and mat have been confused, especially for the border of a picture.[2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press