Artistic

How to spell artistic

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce artistic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does artistic mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to art, or showing creative skill and a good sense of beauty.

Artistic in a sentence

• Her artistic talent was obvious from the murals she painted at home.

• The cafe had an artistic display of hand-thrown pottery in the window.

Where does artistic come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Latin ars, with its stem art-, meaning 'skill', 'craft', or 'technique', the same root that gives us 'art', 'artisan', and 'article'. Italian developed artista for a practitioner of a craft, and from that French formed the adjective artistique, describing anything relating to art or done with creative skill. English borrowed the form in the late eighteenth century, fitting it to the familiar pattern of 'artist' plus the suffix -ic, which builds adjectives meaning 'relating to'. The spelling stays reassuringly transparent: it is simply 'artist' with -ic added, so the single t after the i is the only point worth watching. Because the Latin sense was about practical skill rather than fine art, the word still carries a flavour of both technique and aesthetic flair.

How the word is built

• art (skill, craft)
• -ist (one who practises)
• -ic (adjective suffix: relating to)