Meanings
- uncountableA technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper.
They adapted these ideas to woodblock printing. They used pear or jujube wood and cut the wood to the size of two book pages. They then smoothed and softened the wood by covering it with paste.
2005, Charles Kahn, Ken Osborne, World History: Societies of the Past, Portage & Main Press, →ISBN, page 1181 more example
Woodblock printing was first employed by the Chinese around a.d. 700, and movable type in the middle of the eleventh century. Even the indelible lampblack ink, which has been manufactured in the West under the misnomer “India ink,” […]
2011, Tsuen-hsuin Tsien, Collected Writings on Chinese Culture, Chinese University Press, →ISBN, page 145Synonyms: block printing
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 雕版印刷, 雕版印刷術 /雕版印刷术
- 雕版印刷 (diāobǎn yìnshuā)technique for printing text, images or patterns
- 雕版印刷術 /雕版印刷术 (diāobǎn yìnshuāshù)technique for printing text, images or patterns
Danish bloktryk
- bloktryktechnique for printing text, images or patterns
Dutch blokdruk
- blokdruktechnique for printing text, images or patterns
Finnish puupiirrospaino
- puupiirrospainotechnique for printing text, images or patterns
French impression au bloc de bois
- impression au bloc de boistechnique for printing text, images or patterns
German Blockdruck
- Blockdrucktechnique for printing text, images or patterns
Japanese 木版
- 木版 (mokuhan)technique for printing text, images or patterns
Polish druk na tkaninie
- druk na tkaninietechnique for printing text, images or patterns
Portuguese xilogravura
- xilogravuratechnique for printing text, images or patterns
Spanish impresión xilográfica
- impresión xilográficatechnique for printing text, images or patterns
Cite this entry
woodblock printing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodblock%20printing
“woodblock printing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodblock%20printing. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “woodblock printing,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodblock%20printing.
Source: woodblock printing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.