Etymology

picture

pic·ture
P3I1C3T1U1R1E1

Today it means: A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc. Full definition →

Middle English picture ← Latin pictūra
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived frompictūra“the art of painting, a painting”
  2. Middle English · inherited frompicture
  3. English todaypicture

Inherited from Middle English picture, from Latin pictūra (“the art of painting, a painting”), from pingō (“to paint”). Doublet of pictura.

Words from the same roots

Latinpictūra all →

pictura

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.