picturesque

English

Alternative forms

• picture-skew (humorous)

Etymology

From picture +‎ -esque, a calque of Italian pittoresco, from pittura (“a picture, painting”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪktʃəˈɹɛsk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

picturesque (comparative more picturesque, superlative most picturesque)

1. Resembling or worthy of a picture or painting; having the qualities of a picture or painting; pleasingly beautiful.

   We looked down onto a beautiful, picturesque sunset over the ocean.

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     A two minutes' walk brought Warwick--the name he had registered under, and as we shall call him--to the market-house, the central feature of Patesville, from both the commercial and the picturesque points of view.

2. Strikingly graphic or vivid; having striking and vivid imagery.

   picturesque language

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:picturesque.

Synonyms

• quaint
• scenic

Derived terms

• picturesquely
• picturesqueness

Translations

resembling a picture or painting

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繪畫般的, 绘画般的 (huìhuà bān de), 逼真 (zh) (bīzhēn), 栩栩如生 (zh) (xǔxǔrúshēng), 生動 (zh), 生动 (zh) (shēngdòng), (picturesque scenery) 風景如畫, 风景如画 (fēngjǐngrúhuà)

• Czech: malebný (cs), pitoreskní
• Danish: pittoresk, malerisk
• Finnish: pittoreski (fi), maalauksellinen (fi), kuvankaunis (fi)
• French: pittoresque (fr)
• Galician: pintoresco
• German: (especially of nature) malerisch (de); (especially of settlements) pittoresk (de)
• Greek: γραφικός (el) (grafikós)
• Hebrew: ציורי‎
• Hungarian: festői (hu), pittoreszk
• Ido: pitoreska (io), piktinda (io), pikturatra (io)
• Italian: pittoresco (it)

• Lithuanian: vaizdingas
• Macedonian: сликовит (slikovit), живописен (živopisen)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pittoresk, malerisk, naturskjønn

  Nynorsk: pittoresk, naturskjønn

• Polish: malowniczy (pl)
• Portuguese: pitoresco (pt)
• Romanian: pitoresc (ro)
• Russian: живопи́сный (ru) (živopísnyj)
• Spanish: pintoresco
• Swedish: pittoresk (sv)
• Yiddish: בילדעריש‎ (bilderish)

Further reading

• picturesque in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• picturesque in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.