picturesque

Etymology

It is formed from English picture + -esque, after French pittoresque (“of painting; worthy of being painted”),^[2][3][4] itself from Italian pittoresco (“pictorial; of a painting, original or striking”),^[2][5][6][7] from pittore (“painter”),^[5][6][2] from Latin pictor (“painter”),^[5][4][2] from the past participle of pingō (“to paint”).^[8] Several dictionaries treat it as a borrowing of the French word with its double t changed to ct under the influence of picture,^{[6][4][9][10]} and Klein calls it a blend of the two.^[11] The French and Italian words are recorded first in the phrases à la pittoresque (1658) and alla pittoresca (mid-16th century), in the manner of painters.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Like a picture, suitable as the subject of a picture: 1703, in Steele's play The Tender Husband, according to Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster;^[3][5][8] the OED dates the quotation from that play 1705.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon applied especially to views and landscapes that are pleasing or striking in appearance.^[2][7] By 1734 it was used of language and narrative, meaning graphic and vivid, sometimes, as Etymonline puts it, somewhat euphemistically;^[5][2] the OED notes an ironical use for "careless of the truth, for effect".^[2] As a noun, the picturesque, the qualities that make something picturesque, is recorded from 1749,^[2][5] and in the later 18th century it named an aesthetic taste for such scenery: from 1756 the adjective could describe a person with that taste.^[2] From 1795 a verb picturesque meant to make a place picturesque.^[2] Dictionary.com notes that a picturesque account is less precise than a graphic one: striking, but possibly inaccurate or coloured by personal ideas.^[10]

Timeline

• 1703 – like a picture, fit to be painted.^[3][5][8]
• 1705 – first quotation in the OED, in Steele.^[2]
• before 1734 – of language, strikingly graphic or vivid.^[2][5]
• 1749 – noun, the picturesque.^[2][5]
• 1756 – having a taste for the picturesque.^[2]
• 1795 – verb, to make picturesque (now rare).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Pleasing to look at, especially in a quaint or charming way; scenic: a picturesque harbour lined with fishing boats.^[7][8][2]
2. Like a picture, or suitable as the subject of a painting.^[8][2]
3. Of language or description: vivid and graphic, sometimes at the expense of accuracy.^[7][2][10]
4. Having a striking or colourful character.^[7]

Noun

1. the picturesque: picturesque qualities, or the aesthetic ideal of such scenery.^[2][8]

Word family

• picturesquely
• picturesqueness
• unpicturesque

Related words

• picture
• pictorial
• paint
• picaresque
• -esque

Usage notes

Dictionary.com lists picturesque as a word sometimes confused with picaresque.^[10]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.