pictorial

Etymology

It is formed from Latin pictōrius (“of a painter”) with the English suffix -al,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} as if from a Latin form *pictōriālis, in Barnhart's words.^[7] The OED dates the Latin adjective to the 2nd century AD, while the Shorter Oxford, the ODE and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged call it Late Latin.^[2][8][4][9] It is from pictor (“painter”),^[2][3][6] from pictus, the past participle of pingō (“to paint, make pictures”),^[5][3][7] the source of paint and picture.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, belonging to, or produced by a painter: 1646, in Sir T. Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica,^[2][7] which Johnson quotes for pictorial inventions that fill empty spaces in maps.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) still called it a word "not adopted by other writers, but elegant and useful",^[10] and Barnhart notes that it was not in general use before 1800.^[7] It spread from the painter to pictures themselves: "consisting of or expressed in pictures" from 1791 in the OED (1807 in Barnhart and Etymonline),^[2][7][3] and "containing pictures, illustrated" from 1826, in Disraeli's Vivian Grey.^[2][7][3] From 1829 it was also used of language or ideas that call up a picture, vivid or picturesque.^[7][2] As a noun, a pictorial was a newspaper or magazine made up mostly of pictures (1844),^[2][3][9] and later a postage stamp with a picture or scene (1934).^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1646 – of or produced by a painter, in Sir T. Browne.^[2][7]
• 1791 – consisting of or expressed in pictures.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline date this sense to 1807.^[7][3]
• 1826 – containing pictures, illustrated.^[2][7]
• 1829 – vivid or picturesque, of language or ideas, in Landor.^[7] The OED's first record is 1841.^[2]
• 1844 – noun, a newspaper or magazine made up mainly of pictures.^[2][9]
• 1934 – a postage stamp bearing a picture or scene.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to, made of, or expressed in pictures: a pictorial record of the expedition.^[11][9][2]
2. Of a book or periodical, containing many pictures; illustrated.^[11][9][2]
3. Relating to painting or drawing, or to painters.^[11][9][2]
4. Of language or style, calling up a picture; vivid or graphic.^[11][2]

Noun

1. A magazine or newspaper in which pictures are the main feature.^[11][9][2]
2. A postage stamp with a picture as its main design.^[9][2]

Word family

• pictoriality
• pictorially
• pictorialness
• nonpictorial
• pictorialize
• unpictorial
• pictorialism

Related words

• picture
• paint
• depict
• pictograph
• picturesque

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins