silhouette
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silhouette
- /ˌsɪlʊˈɛt/ UK
- /ˌsɪluˈɛt/ US
- /-lə-/ US
- /-ˈwɛt/ US
Rhymes with -ɛt
Where it comes from
The noun is a unadapted borrowing from French silhouette, from the surname of Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), France’s Controller-General of Finances. It has been suggested that the word refers to one or more of the following:
* De Silhouette’s penny-pinching policies which led to the French term à la Silhouette, applied to things perceived as austere or cheap, akin to an outline filled only with black.
* The fact that de Silhouette only held the office of Controller-General of Finances for about eight months from 4 March to 21 November 1759.
* De Silhouette’s outline portraits which he made to decorate his château at Bry-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne.
De Silhouette’s surname is a gallicized form of Basque Ziloeta or Zilhoeta (modern Basque Zulueta), from the local plural stem (see -ak) of zulo (“hole, pit; den, hiding place”), from Proto-Basque *zuLo (“hole”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
noun silhouettes · silhouet
- An artistic depiction, often of a person's profile, in the form of an outline without any other visual details, similar to a shadow, made by cutting a piece of black paper, filling in an outline with a solid colour (usually black), etc. She had a feeble pencil drawing of the vicarage in Dorsetshire, and silhouettes of her father and mother, which were hung up in the lodgings wherever she went.
- A dark outline of someone or something seen against a brighter background. I could see a silhouette of a figure looking out from the window, but I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.
- An outline of a garment as it appears on a wearer. A-line is a classic silhouette for dresses and skirts.
- A brief written description of someone or something; an outline, a sketch. [A]t my elbow stood a tall man, young, though probably five or six years older than I—in other respects of an appearance the opposite to common-place; though just now, as I am not disposed to paint his portrait in detail, the reader must be content with the silhouette I have just thrown off; […]
verb silhouettes · silhouetting · silhouetted
- Often followed by against or upon: to depict (oneself or someone, or something) as a silhouette (noun sense 1 or noun sense 2.1); to project (oneself or someone, or something) upon a background, so as to be like a silhouette. We guided ourselves, by the fitful flashes of forked and sheet lightning combined, towards a ghostly point, whose deeper blackness silhouetted it against the shades.
- To appear as a silhouette. [T]he distant islands […] lay dark and massive across our path, their huge crowns silhouetting in clear-cut outlines against the eastern sky, […]
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: shadow, figure, outline, profile, frame, shape, appearance, size, shade, halftone, grayling, contour, tracery, lineament, sketch, delineation
Translations
Every language
noun artistic depiction in the form of an outline without any other visual details
| Español | silueta |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 실루엣 silluet |
| 日本語 | シルエット shiruetto |
| 中文 | 剪影 jiǎnyǐng |
| हिन्दी | छाया chāyā, रूपरेखा rūprekhā |
| Português | silhueta, contorno |
| Français | silhouette |
| Deutsch | Silhouette, Schattenriss |
| Italiano | silhouette, controluce, sagoma |
| Ελληνικά | σιλουέτα silouéta |
| Română | siluetă |
| Русский | силуэ́т siluét |
| Tiếng Việt | bóng, hình bóng |
| العربية | خَيَال ḵayāl, سَوَاد sawād |
| עברית | צְלָלִית tslalít |
Talk about this word "silhouette." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/silhouette. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. silhouette. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/silhouette "silhouette." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/silhouette.Cite this
@misc{silhouette_2026,
title = {silhouette},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/silhouette},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
