Etymologically
Log in

pictorial

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 02:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /pɪkˈtɔɹi.əl/[1]

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

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