portraiture

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English portraiture, also portreiture and purtraiture,^[2] borrowed from Old French purtraiture, the Anglo-Norman form, and Middle French portraiture (“drawing, image, representation”).^[3][2][4][5] The Old French word is recorded from about 1165,^[3] and the Anglo-Norman one from the third quarter of the 12th century, with senses from a portrait to an illumination and the art of painting.^[6] It is formed from portrait and the suffix -ure;^[3][7][8] the French noun is the past participle of portraire (“to draw, paint, portray”),^[7][4] from por- (“forth”) and traire (“to draw”), from Latin trahō (“to drag, draw”).^[4] The English verb portraiture, to portray, is a conversion of the noun, recorded from 1581.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A painting or drawing, especially of a person; a portrait: about 1385, in Chaucer's Knight's Tale.^[3][2] Chaucer used the word ten times and Gower twice.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The art of portraying itself, as opposed to a single picture, is recorded from before 1393, in Gower.^[3] In the 15th century the word was extended to description in words (about 1430, in Lydgate) and to portrayal by acting or gesture (before 1450).^[3] It also meant a likeness, form or appearance from about 1450 to the late 18th century, and a statue from 1548 to 1720; both uses are obsolete.^[3][8] Johnson (1755) defined it as a picture or painted resemblance, quoting Hamlet.^[10] The noun portrait, recorded from the 1560s, may be a back-formation from it.^[4][3] The modern sense is mainly the art of making portraits, in painting or photography.^[8][11][12]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – a painting or drawing; a portrait.^[3][2]
• before 1393 – the art of portraying.^[3]
• c. 1430 – description of a person or event in words.^[3]
• before 1450 – portrayal through acting or gesture.^[3]
• c. 1450 – likeness, form, appearance (obsolete after 1797).^[3]
• 1548 – a statue (obsolete after 1720).^[3]
• 1581 – verb, to make a portrait of.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The art or practice of making portraits, by painting, drawing or photography: Her early portraiture was influenced by the Dutch masters.^[8][11][12]
2. A portrait, or portraits as a group.^[11][8][3]
3. A vivid description in words: The novel offers a sharp portraiture of village life.^[11][8][12]
4. (obsolete) Appearance, form or shape (c. 1450–1797).^[8][3]

Verb

1. (archaic) To portray.^[8][3]

Related words

• portrait
• portray
• portrayal
• tract
• trace

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press