Etymologically
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texture

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 13:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈteks.tʃə/, US /ˈteks.tʃɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French texture and directly Latin textūra (“web, structure, weaving”),[2][3][4][5] from the stem of texō (“to weave”) (see text),[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *teks- (“to weave, fabricate”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A network or structure, first in anatomy: probably about 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's surgery, in Barnhart; the early 15th century in Etymonline.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Weaving itself is an obsolete sense of 1447.[6] A natural structure that looks woven is from 1578,[6][5] and the nature or quality of something immaterial from 1611.[2][3] The structure of physical substances is from 1660 and of organic bodies from 1665,[6] and the character of a woven fabric from 1685.[2][6] The verb meant to weave in the 1690s, and to give a texture to by 1888.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – a network, structure.[2]
  • 1447 – weaving (obsolete).[6]
  • 1578 – a structure like weaving.[6]
  • 1611 – nature, quality.[2]
  • 1685 – the character of a fabric.[2][6]
  • 1888 – textured.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The feel or appearance of a surface: a rough texture.
  2. The structure, appearance and feel of a woven fabric.
  3. The structure or composition of something: the texture of a cake.
  4. The distinctive character or quality of something.
  5. A rough or grainy surface.

Verb

  1. To give a texture to a surface.

Word family

  • textural
  • texturally
  • textured
  • textureless
  • intertexture
  • retexture
  • texturize

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press