sculpture

sculpture

English

Etymology

From Middle English sculpture, from Old French sculpture, from Latin sculptūra (“sculpture”), from sculpō (“to cut out, to carve in stone”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌlpt͡ʃɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌlptj(ʊ)ə/, /ˈskʌlpt͡ʃə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sculp‧ture

Noun

sculpture (usually uncountable, plural sculptures)

1. (countable) A three dimensional work of art created by shaping malleable objects and letting them harden or by chipping away pieces from a rock (sculpting).
   • 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:

     There, too, in living sculpture, might be seen / The mad affection of the Cretan queen.

2. Works of art created by sculpting, as a group.
3. (zoology) The three-dimensional ornamentation on the outer surface of a shell.
4. (archaic) A printed picture, such as an engraving.
   • 1690, “Preface to the Reader”, in A Full and True Relation of the Great and Wonderful Revolution That Hapned Lately in the Kingdom of Siam in the East-Indies, London: Randal Taylor, page i:

     Both are Tranſlated into Engliſh, Illuſtrated with Sculptures, and Printed about two Years ago.

Translations

art of sculpting

Albanian: gdhend (sq) Arabic: نَحْت‎ (ar) m (naḥt) Armenian: քանդակագործություն (hy) (kʿandakagorcutʿyun) Azerbaijani: heykəltəraşlıq (az) Belarusian: скульпту́ра f (skulʹptúra), разбя́рства n (razbjárstva) Bengali: ভাস্কর্য (bhaskôrjô) Bulgarian: скулпту́ра (bg) f (skulptúra) Burmese: ပန်းပု (my) (pan:pu.) Catalan: escultura (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 雕塑 (zh) (diāosù) Czech: sochařství (cs) n Danish: skulptur (da) c Dutch: beeldhouwen (nl), sculptuur (nl) f Esperanto: skulptarto Estonian: skulptuur Finnish: kuvanveisto (fi) French: sculpture (fr) f Galician: escultura (gl) f German: Bildhauerkunst (de) f, Skulptur (de) f Greek: γλυπτική (el) f (glyptikí) Ancient: γλυπτική f (gluptikḗ) Hindi: शिल्पकला (hi) (śilpaklā) Hungarian: szobrászat (hu) Icelandic: höggmyndalist Ido: skulto (io) Indonesian: seni pahat (id) Irish: dealbhóireacht f Italian: scultura (it) Japanese: 彫刻 (ja) (ちょうこく, chōkoku) Kazakh: мүсін (kk) (müsın), мүсіндеме (müsındeme) Khmer: ចំឡាក់ (km) (cɑmlak) Korean: 조각(彫刻) (ko) (jogak) Lao: ປະຕິມາກຳ (pa ti mā kam) Latvian: tēlniecība f Lithuanian: skulptūra f Macedonian: вајарство n (vajarstvo), скулпту́ра f (skulptúra) Maori: tāraitanga Middle English: ymagerie Norman: stchulptuthe f Norwegian: Bokmål: skulptur m Nynorsk: skulptur m Polish: rzeźbiarstwo (pl) n Portuguese: escultura (pt) Romanian: sculptură (ro) f Russian: вая́ние (ru) n (vajánije), скульпту́ра (ru) f (skulʹptúra), ле́пка (ru) f (lépka) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: вајарство n Roman: vajarstvo (sh) n Slovak: sochárstvo n Slovene: kiparstvo (sl) n Spanish: escultura (es) f Swedish: skulpturkonst (sv) c, bildhuggarkonst c, bildhuggeri n, bildformning c, plastik (sv) c Tajik: ҳайкалтарошӣ (haykaltarošī) Telugu: శిల్పకళ (te) (śilpakaḷa) Thai: ปฏิมากรรม, ประติมากรรม (th) (bprà-dtì-maa-gam) Turkish: heykelcilik (tr), heykeltıraşlık (tr), yontuculuk (tr) Ukrainian: скульпту́ра f (skulʹptúra), лі́пка f (lípka), рі́зьблення n (rízʹblennja), різьбя́рство n (rizʹbjárstvo), різьба́рство n (rizʹbárstvo) Uzbek: haykaltaroshlik (uz) Vietnamese: điêu khắc (vi) Walloon: sculteure (wa) f, scultreye (wa)

work of art created by sculpting

Albanian: skulpturë (sq) f Arabic: تِمْثَال‎ m (timṯāl) Armenian: արձան (hy) (arjan) Azerbaijani: heykəl (az) Belarusian: скульпту́ра f (skulʹptúra) Bengali: মূর্তি (mūrti), ভাস্কর্য (bhaskôrjô) Bulgarian: скулпту́ра (bg) f (skulptúra), ста́туя (bg) f (státuja) (statue) Burmese: ရုပ်တု (my) (ruptu.) Catalan: escultura (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 雕塑 (zh) (diāosù), 雕像 (zh) (diāoxiàng) Czech: socha (cs) f Danish: skulptur (da) c Dutch: beeldhouwwerk (nl) n, beeld (nl) n Esperanto: skulptaĵo Estonian: skulptuur Finnish: veistos (fi) French: sculpture (fr) f Galician: escultura (gl) f Georgian: ქანდაკება (kandaḳeba) German: Skulptur (de) f Greek: γλυπτό (el) n (glyptó) Ancient: γλυπτόν n (gluptón) Hebrew: פֶּסֶל‎ (he) m (pésel) Hindi: शिल्पकला (hi) (śilpaklā), प्रतिमा (hi) f (pratimā) Hungarian: szobor (hu) Icelandic: skúlptúr, höggmynd Ido: skulturo (io) Indonesian: pahatan (id) Irish: dealbh (ga) f Italian: scultura (it) f Japanese: 彫刻 (ja) (ちょうこく, chōkoku) Kannada: ಶಿಲ್ಪ (kn) (śilpa) Kazakh: мүсін (kk) (müsın) Khmer: ចំឡាក់ (km) (cɑmlak), រូបឆ្លាក់ (ruup chlak) Korean: 조각(彫刻) (ko) (jogak) Kyrgyz: скульптура (ky) (skulʹptura) Lao: ຮູບປັ້ນ (hūp pan) Latvian: skulptūra f Lithuanian: skulptūra f Macedonian: скулпту́ра f (skulptúra) Maori: tāraitanga, whakaironga Middle English: ymagerie Norman: stchulptuthe f Norwegian: Bokmål: skulptur m Nynorsk: skulptur m Persian: مجسمه‎ (fa) (mojassame) Polish: rzeźba (pl) f Portuguese: escultura (pt) f Romanian: sculptură (ro) f Russian: скульпту́ра (ru) f (skulʹptúra), извая́ние (ru) n (izvajánije), ста́туя (ru) f (státuja) (statue) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ки̑п m, скулпту́ра f Roman: kȋp (sh) m, skulptúra (sh) f Slovak: socha f Slovene: skulptura f Spanish: escultura (es) f Swahili: kinyago Swedish: skulptur (sv) Tajik: скулптура (skulptura), муҷассама (mujassama), ҳайкал (tg) (haykal) Telugu: శిల్పం (te) (śilpaṁ) Thai: รูปปั้น (rûup-bpân) Turkish: heykel (tr), yontu (tr) Turkmen: heýkel, skulptura Ukrainian: скульпту́ра f (skulʹptúra) Uzbek: haiʻkal, skulptura, haykal (uz) Vietnamese: tượng (vi) Walloon: sculteure (wa) f, scultreye (wa) f

Verb

sculpture (third-person singular simple present sculptures, present participle sculpturing, simple past and past participle sculptured)

1. To fashion something into a three-dimensional figure.
2. To represent something in sculpture.
3. To change the shape of a land feature by erosion etc.

Translations

to fashion into 3D figure

Bulgarian: вая (bg) (vaja) Finnish: veistää (fi), muovata (fi) Galician: esculpir (gl) Ido: skultar (io) Irish: dealbhaigh Macedonian: ваја (vaja) Spanish: esculpir (es)

to represent in sculpture

Bulgarian: извайвам (bg) (izvajvam) Finnish: esittää (fi) Galician: esculpir (gl) Macedonian: и́зваја (ízvaja) Romanian: sculpta (ro) Spanish: esculpir (es)

to shape a land feature

Finnish: muovata (fi)

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

Romanian: (please verify) a sculpta (ro)

Related terms

• sculpt
• sculptor
• sculptureless
• sculpturelike

Further reading

• sculpture in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• sculpture in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• sculpture at OneLook Dictionary Search

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skyl.tyʁ/ (p is not pronounced)

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: sculptures

Noun

sculpture f (plural sculptures)

1. sculpture

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• sculpteur

---

Latin

Participle

sculptūre

1. vocative masculine singular of sculptūrus