silhouette

Meaning

Noun

1. An illustrated outline filled in with a solid color(s), usually only black, and intended to represent the shape of an object without revealing any other visual details; a similar appearance produced when the object being viewed is situated in relative darkness with brighter lighting behind it; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be.
2. The outline of a garment as it appears on the wearer.

Verb

To represent by a silhouette; to project upon a background, so as to be like a silhouette.

Synonyms

outline

profile

shadow

contour

shape

sketch

indicate

reflection

rough sketch

shade

shadowgraph

shew

show

simulacrum

statue

block in

shadow figure

dark shadow

film picture

adumbrate

layout boundry

configuration

cutout

delineate

figure

image

Translations

silhouette

silueta

Silhouette

silhueta

silhouette

silhouet

schaduwbeeld

Schattenriss

Schattenbild

sagoma

siluetta

silueta

Scherenschnitt

siluet

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌsɪ.lʊˈwɛt/

Etymology

Cognate with Basque: Zulueta

In summary

Borrowed from French silhouette, after Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), French Controller of Finances. De Silhouette's penny-pinching led to the French term à la Silhouette, applied to things perceived as cheap or austere, such as an outline filled only with black.
Étienne de Silhouette's surname is, in turn, gallicized Basque. It derives from Ziloeta or Zilhoeta, modern Basque Zulueta, from the local plural (see -ak) stem of zulo (“hole, cave”).