taille-douce

French

Etymology

Literally, “soft-cutting”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taj.dus/, /tɑj.dus/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

taille-douce f (countable and uncountable, plural tailles-douces)

1. (usually uncountable) line engraving, copper-plate engraving (a type of engraving on copper plates where the design is made up of a series of lines)

   Antonym: taille d’épargne

2. (countable) print made on a board engraved using this method

Usage notes

• The French term is often used directly in English, where it should be italicized.

Further reading

• taille-douce on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr
• “taille-douce”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Douglas and Mary Patrick, The Musson Stamp Dictionary, Toronto, Musson Book Co., 1972, →ISBN