Texture

How to spell texture

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce texture

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does texture mean?

1. nounThe look or feel of a surface or substance, especially how rough, smooth, or layered it is.
2. verbTo give something a particular surface feel or appearance.

Texture in a sentence

• noun

  The rough texture of the stone wall made it easy to grip.

• verb

  The decorators planned to texture the ceiling before painting it.

• noun

  The recipe relies on slow cooking to give the sauce a velvety texture.

• verb

  Bakers often texture the dough by folding in crushed nuts.

Where does texture come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Texture comes from the Latin word textura, meaning 'a weaving' or 'a web', which was built on the verb texere, 'to weave'. In its earliest English use during the late 1300s and 1400s the word still kept very close to that literal sense, describing the way threads were woven together in a piece of cloth. From the idea of woven structure it broadened to mean the felt quality of any surface and then the way the parts of anything are arranged, whether the grain of wood, the crumb of bread, or the layering of a piece of music. The same texere root sits inside several familiar relatives, including 'textile', 'context', and even 'text' itself, since a text was once thought of as words woven together. Remembering that hidden 'text' is the easiest way to keep the spelling on track, with the weaving suffix -ure rounding it off.

How the word is built

• text- (from Latin texere: to weave)
• -ure (noun-forming suffix)