bas-relief

See also: basrelief, Basrelief, and bas relief

English

Scene in bas-relief from the Assyrian Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal.

Alternative forms

• basrelief
• bas relief
• bass-relief (archaic)

Etymology

From French bas-relief, from Italian bassorilievo, compound of basso (“low”) + rilievo (“relief”), from Latin relevare (“to raise up, make light”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbæs.ɹɪˌliːf/, /ˈbɑː.ɹɪˌliːf/, /ˈbɑs.ɹɪˌliːf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌbɑ.ɹɪˈlif/, /ˌbæs.ɹɪˈlif/, /ˈbɑ.ɹɪˌlif/, /ˈbæs.ɹɪˌlif/

Noun

bas-relief (countable and uncountable, plural bas-reliefs)

1. (sculpture) A low or mostly-flat sculpture which is carved into a wall, or is in the form of a tile mounted flat to a wall, rather than a fully three-dimensional, free-standing figure.

   Synonyms: basso-relievo, basso-rilievo, low relief

   Near-synonyms: cavo-relievo, cavo-rilievo, intaglio-rilievo, sunken relief, cameo (jewelry)

   Antonyms: alto-relievo, high relief

Translations

a low or mostly-flat sculpture

• Armenian: հարթաքանդակ (hy) (hartʻakʻandak)
• Belarusian: барэлье́ф m (barelʹjéf)
• Breton: berrvos (br) m
• Bulgarian: барелеф (bg) m (barelef)
• Catalan: baix relleu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 浮雕 (zh) (fúdiāo)

• Crimean Tatar: barelyef
• Dutch: bas-reliëf (nl) n
• Esperanto: bareliefo
• Finnish: reliefi (fi)
• French: bas-relief (fr) m
• Galician: baixo-relevo m
• German: Basrelief (de) n, Flachrelief (de) n
• Greek: χαμηλό ανάγλυφο n (chamiló anáglyfo)
• Irish: rilíf íseal f
• Italian: bassorilievo (it) m
• Japanese: 浅浮き彫り (あさうきぼり, asa ukibori)
• Kazakh: барельеф (barelef)
• Piedmontese: bas-riliev m
• Polish: płaskorzeźba (pl) f
• Portuguese: baixo-relevo (pt) m
• Russian: барелье́ф (ru) m (barelʹjéf)
• Serbo-Croatian: bas-relief (sh) m
• Spanish: bajorrelieve (es) m
• Turkish: alçak rölyef (tr)
• Ukrainian: барельє́ф (uk) m (barelʹjéf)
• Welsh: basgerfwedd f, cerfwedd isel f

Adjective

bas-relief (not comparable)

1. (of a sculpture) In the bas-relief style; low or mostly flat.

Further reading

• bas-relief on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:bas-relief on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• balefires

French

Alternative forms

• bas relief

Etymology

Calque of Italian bassorilievo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.ʁə.ljɛf/ ~ /bɑ.ʁə.ljɛf/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

Noun

bas-relief m (plural bas-reliefs)

1. bas-relief

   Coordinate term: haut-relief

Descendants

• → Dutch: bas-reliëf
• → English: bas-relief
• → German: Basrelief
• → Serbo-Croatian: барељеф / bareljef
• → Russian: барелье́ф (barelʹjéf) (see there for further descendants)
• → Ukrainian: барельє́ф (barelʹjéf)

Further reading

• “bas-relief”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012