xylograph
/ˈzaɪ.ləʊ.ɡɹɑːf/
xylograph means an engraving in wood or woodcut, especially one used in printing predating the Western tradition (14th c.). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
xylograph is pronounced /ˈzaɪ.ləʊ.ɡɹɑːf/.
Why “xylograph” is a great word
XYLOGRAPH — [Noun, Verb] A print made from a design carved in relief on a block of wood; to make such a print. A back-formation from xylography, corresponding to xylo- (from Greek xylon, “wood”) + -graph (from Greek -graphos, “writing” or “drawing”). First recorded in English 1860–65. Unlike a lithograph (which flows from the chemical repulsion of ink on stone) or an engraving (which typically implies a burin incising metal), a xylograph is a tactile record of grain and pressure. It is the fibrous texture ghosting through a field of black ink, the palpable ridge where the gouged hollows refused the ink, and the quiet, physical satisfaction of block meeting paper—a testament that the most enduring marks are those we reveal by patiently subtracting what obscures them.
Etymology
Back-formation from xylography, corresponding to xylo- (“wood”) + -graph.
noun
- An engraving in wood or woodcut, especially one used in printing predating the Western tradition (14th c.).“First he collected a number of witnesses, including many old prints of the Guhyasamāja Tantra itself and old xylograph prints of the Pradipodyotana from the monasteries of Drepung, Tashilhunpo, Riwo Dangchen, and Nartang.”
- A print taken from such an engraving.“While Walter Gropius had had a reproduction of a xylograph from Lyonel Feininger reproduced on the Bauhaus movement's founding manifesto in 1919 – a symbolic image of a gothic cathedral that was comparatively traditional in both form […]”
verb
- To make a print from an engraving in wood.