picture English · revision 3457

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1420 (Lydgate)|origins=la pingere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈpɪk.tʃə/, US /ˈpɪk.tʃɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|pictur]], [[bor|la|pictūra|t=painting]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002) from [[m|la|pictus|t=painted]], past participle of [[m|la|pingere|t=to paint, embroider]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) the source of [[paint]],^(Cresswell 2021)^(Klein 1966) from [[ine-pro|*peyḱ-|alt=*peig-|t=to adorn by colouring or carving]].^(AHD 2000)^(Klein 1966) Klein notes that [[painture]] is a doublet.^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Drawing, painting, the act of painting: before 1420, in Lydgate's ''Troy Book'',^(Barnhart 1988) or about 1420,^(OED 1989) a sense now obsolete.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ An individual painting or drawing is from 1484,^(OED 1989) and a portrait from 1505.^(OED 1989) A mental image is first recorded before 1547, and a vivid verbal description in Shakespeare's ''Love's Labour's Lost'', 1588.^(Barnhart 1988) A person strongly resembling another, as in ''the picture of his father'', is from 1712,^(OED 1989) and something very beautiful, ''pretty as a picture'', from 1815.^(OED 1989) The verb meant “to paint, depict” about 1489, “to describe in words” from 1586, and “to imagine” from 1738.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) ''Picture book'' is by 1801, ''picture postcard'' from 1899, ''in the picture'' from 1900, and ''picture window'' from 1938.^(Etymonline) ''A picture is worth a thousand words'' is attested from 1918 and probably came from the publishing trade.^(Etymonline) In British English ''the pictures'' is the cinema.^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1420 – the art of painting (Lydgate).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1484 – a painting or drawing.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1489 – verb, to depict.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1547 – a mental image.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1588 – a vivid description (Shakespeare).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1738 – verb, to imagine.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1801 – ''picture book''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1918 – ''worth a thousand words''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A painting, drawing or photograph; an image on a flat surface.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A vivid description; a mental image.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ # A person or thing closely resembling or embodying another: ''the picture of health''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # The general situation: ''get the picture''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A film, a [[movie]], and ''the pictures'', the cinema.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To represent in a picture.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # To form a mental image of; to [[visualize]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # To describe vividly in words.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[picturable]]

+ * [[picturer]]

+ * [[picture-perfect]]

+ * [[picturesque]]

+ * [[B-picture]]

+ * [[picturephone]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[depict]]

+ * [[pictorial]]

+ * [[paint]]

+ * [[pigment]]

+ * [[pinto]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}