texture

See also: texturé

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French texture, borrowed from Latin textūra (“a weaving, web, texture, structure”), from textus, past participle of texere (“to weave”). See text. Doublet of tessitura.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛkst͡ʃə(ɹ)/, /ˈtɛkʃt͡ʃə(ɹ)/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛkst͡ʃɚ/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

  • Audio (Texas):

    (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈtekst͡ʃə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɛkstʃə(ɹ)

Noun

texture (countable and uncountable, plural textures)

1. The feel or shape of a surface or substance; the smoothness, roughness, softness, etc. of something.

   The beans had a grainy, gritty texture in her mouth.

2. (art) The quality given to a work of art by the composition and interaction of its parts.

   The piece of music had a mainly homophonic texture.

3. (computer graphics) An image applied to a polygon to create the appearance of a surface.
   • 2004, Will Smith, Maximum PC Guide to Building a Dream PC (page 97)

     The videocard is responsible for drawing every polygon, texture, and particle effect in every game you play.

4. (obsolete) The act or art of weaving.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     Skins, although a natural habit unto all before the invention of texture, was something more unto Adam.

5. (obsolete) Something woven; a woven fabric; a web.
   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

     Others, apart far in the grassy dale, / Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Of richest texture spread

6. (biology, obsolete) A tissue.

Derived terms

• echotexture
• hypertexture
• intertexture
• macrotexture
• microtexture
• multitexture
• nanotexture
• open texture
• overspray surface texture
• retexture
• subtexture
• texturable
• textureless
• texture map
• texturewise
• texturisation
• texturise
• texturism
• texturist
• texturization
• texturize
• texturous

Related terms

• context
• pretext
• subtext
• texel
• text
• texton
• textual
• textural

Translations

feel or shape of a surface or substance

• Arabic: مَلْمَس (malmas)
• Bulgarian: текстура f (tekstura)
• Catalan: textura (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 質地 / 质地 (zh) (zhídì), 材質 / 材质 (zh) (cái zhì), 質感 / 质感 (zh) (zhìgǎn), 肌理 (zh) (jīlǐ) (painting), 紋理 / 纹理 (zh) (wénlǐ)

• Czech: struktura povrchu f
• Danish: tekstur c
• Dutch: textuur (nl)
• Esperanto: teksturo, teksaranĝo
• Finnish: tuntu (fi), tuntuma (fi), rakenne (fi)
• French: texture (fr) f
• Galician: textura (gl) f
• German: Textur (de) f
• Hungarian: szövet (hu), tapintás (hu), tapintású (hu)
• Indonesian: tekstur (id)
• Latin: textūra f
• Māori: kakano
• Marathi: पोत m (pot)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tekstur m

  Nynorsk: tekstur m

• Romanian: țesătură (ro) f, textură (ro) f
• Russian: строе́ние (ru) n (strojénije), структу́ра (ru) f (struktúra), тексту́ра (ru) f (tekstúra), ткань (ru) f (tkanʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dèanamh m
• Slovak: štruktúra povrchu f
• Spanish: textura (es) f
• Ukrainian: тексту́ра f (tekstúra)
• Welsh: gweadedd m

art: quality produced by interaction of elements

• Catalan: textura (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 質感 / 质感 (zh) (zhìgǎn)

• Finnish: rakenne (fi)
• French: texture (fr) f
• Romanian: calitate a țesăturii f

computer graphics: image applied to a polygon

• Catalan: textura (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貼圖 / 贴图 (tiētú), 材質 / 材质 (zh) (cái zhì)

• Czech: textura f
• Dutch: textuur (nl)
• Esperanto: teksturo sg
• Finnish: tekstuuri (fi), kuviointi (fi)
• French: texture (fr) m
• German: Textur (de) f
• Icelandic: efni (is) n
• Italian: texture (it) f
• Japanese: テクスチャ (tekusucha)
• Polish: tekstura (pl) f
• Romanian: textură (ro) f
• Russian: тексту́ра (ru) f (tekstúra)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} textuur (nl)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} áferð (is)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} textura (es) f

Verb

texture (third-person singular simple present textures, present participle texturing, simple past and past participle textured)

1. To create or apply a texture.

   Drag the trowel through the plaster to texture the wall.

   The floor here is invisible because the game's devs forgot to texture it.

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: rapata (fi) (with plaster), teksturoida (fi) (computer graphics)
• German: texturieren (chiefly computer graphics)
• Indonesian: tekstur (id)
• Polish: teksturować impf
• Portuguese: texturizar

Adjective

texture (comparative more texture, superlative most texture)

1. (slang) Having an intense texture; with a texture that causes a strong (often positive) reaction.
   • 2022 April 4, @Unit_9078, Twitter‎^[1], archived from the original on 24 August 2025:

     I may suck at it, but when I get the nail polish *juuuust right* ¶ gosh, its just so texture~ ¶ whaaaat? noo, Im totally not autistic and stimming with every comfortable texture I can

   • 2022 August 24, Darkfalli, “Wellness Check - Chapter 13: Sinking Theseus's Ship”, in Archive Of Our Own‎^[2], archived from the original on 24 August 2025:

     I was hesitant about biting a piece of paper. "W-What if I get a papercut on my tongue?" ¶ "Flower, do you honestly think that the Compact uses paper that sophonts can injure themselves with? […] Here let me show you." She ran my finger down the edge of one of the sheets and my brain kept telling me that it'd hurt and slice my finger open, but it never did. The edge was soft, smooth, and incapable of cutting. I kinda wanted to do it again. It was soooo texture.

   • 2023 March 6, @lukakgae, Twitter‎^[3], archived from the original on 24 August 2025:

     i like doing my makeup but i hate how it makes my skin feels after omg its so...texture whats it called ¶ it just isnt smooth anymore omg FUCK U

   • 2025 April 18, @lukakgae, Twitter‎^[4] (reply to a drawing), archived from the original on 24 August 2025:

     Augh... Your art style is so texture it makes me stim

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:texture.

See also

• gender (adjective)

Further reading

• “texture”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “texture”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French texture, borrowed from Latin textūra (“a weaving, web, texture, structure”), from textus, past participle of texere (“to weave”). See text.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛk.styʁ/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

texture f (plural textures)

1. texture

Related terms

• texte

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English texture.

Noun

texture f (uncountable)

1. texture

Latin

Participle

textūre

1. vocative masculine singular of textūrus