stencil

English

stencil template (sense 1)

stencil graffiti (sense 2)

Etymology

Likely a nominalization of Middle English stencellen (“to garnish with bright hues”), borrowed from Middle French estinceller (“to glisten”), from Old French estenceler (“to spark”), from Old French estencele (“spark”), from Vulgar Latin *stincilla, from metathesis of Latin scintilla (“spark”).

The verb is from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈstɛnsɪl/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈstɛnsəl/
• Rhymes: -ɛnsəl

Noun

stencil (plural stencils)

2. A thin sheet, either perforated or using some other technique, with which a pattern may be produced upon a surface; a utensil that contains a perforated sheet.
   • 2015, Margaret Peot, Stencil Craft: Techniques for Fashion, Art and Home‎^[1], Penguin, →ISBN:

     You do not necessarily need to have a stencil brush to paint over a stencil.

4. A pattern produced using such a utensil.
   • 2016 July 11, Calla Wahlquist, “Banksy stencils destroyed by construction workers in Melbourne”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     In 2013 a damaged stencil of a rat and an image of a girl hugging a bomb were painted over on the walls of a Fitzroy church by the building owner’s father-in-law, who tried to help out by painting the building while house sitting. He did not know the significance of the stencils.

5. A two-ply master sheet for use with a mimeograph.

Derived terms

• stencil art
• stencil buffer
• stencil duplicator
• stencil work

Translations

thin sheet; utensil

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: шаблон (bg) m (šablon)
• Catalan: plantilla (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漏字版 (lòuzìbǎn)

• Czech: šablona (cs) f
• Dutch: sjabloon (nl) c or n
• Finnish: kaavain, malline (fi), kaavalevy, luotta (fi), sabloni, sapluuna (fi), stensiili
• French: pochoir (fr)
• Georgian: შაბლონი (šabloni), ტრაფარეტი (ṭrapareṭi)
• German: Schablone (de) f
• Hebrew: סְטֶנְסִיל‎ (he) f (stensíl)
• Indonesian: stensil (id)
• Italian: normografo (it) m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 스텐실 (seutensil)
• Latin: lamina interrasilis f
• Latvian: trafarets m
• Malay: stensil
• Maori: tahua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sjablong m

  Nynorsk: sjablong m

• Polish: szablon (pl) m
• Portuguese: estêncil (pt) m, régua vazada f
• Romanian: șablon (ro) n
• Russian: трафаре́т (ru) (trafarét)
• Slovak: šablóna f
• Spanish: estarcido (es) m, esténcil m, plantilla (es) f
• Swedish: schablon (sv) c
• Tagalog: panlimwad
• Ukrainian: трафарет m (trafaret), шаблон (uk) m (šablon)
• Vietnamese: giấy xtăngxin, khuôn tô, mẫu tô

pattern produced

master sheet for mimeograph

• Finnish: vahas

See also

• pochoir

Verb

stencil (third-person singular simple present stencils, present participle (UK) stencilling or (US) stenciling, simple past and past participle (UK) stencilled or (US) stenciled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To print with a stencil.
   • 2015, William Addison Dwiggins, edited by Dorothy Abbe, Stencilled Ornament and Illustration, Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 53:

     Stencilled letters were used for words and phrases, as well as for captions for some of his stencil “prints,” print being used in the sense of a multicolor woodcut.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “stencil”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

• Stencils on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• clients, lectins, scilent