Sketch

How to spell sketch

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce sketch

What does sketch mean?

1. nounA rough or quickly made drawing, often a preliminary version.
2. verbTo draw roughly or to describe something briefly.
3. nounA short comic or dramatic scene, usually part of a longer show.

Sketch in a sentence

• noun

  The architect showed a quick sketch of the new kitchen layout.

• verb

  He likes to sketch the buildings he passes on his walk.

• noun

  The comedy sketch about the broken photocopier had the audience laughing.

• noun

  She kept a small sketch of the harbour in her notebook.

• verb

  Let me sketch the main steps of the plan before we begin.

• noun

  Each sketch in the show lasted only a few minutes.

Where does sketch come from?

Language of origin: Dutch

This word arrived in English in the mid-1600s from the Dutch schets, which itself was borrowed from the Italian schizzo, meaning a rough draft or splash. The Italian term traces back to the Latin schedius, meaning 'made suddenly' or 'extempore', which in turn drew on the Greek skhedios, meaning 'done offhand' or 'on the spur of the moment'. That original sense of speed and improvisation explains why a sketch is a quick, unpolished version of something rather than a finished work. The meaning later widened from rough drawings to brief written accounts and then to short comic stage pieces. The cluster of consonants 'tch' at the end is the small spelling trap, since the word sounds like it could end in a simple 'ch'.

How the word is built

• sketch (from Dutch schets/Italian schizzo, a rough drawing), no affixes