The Word of the Day

bas-relief \bah-ri-LEEF\ noun : sculptural relief in which the projection from the surrounding surface is slight and no part of the modeled form is undercut; also : a sculpture executed in bas-relief

Example sentence: Jamal admired the bas-reliefs carved into the walls of the ancient Assyrian palace.

Did you know? The best way to understand the meaning of "bas-relief" is to see one -- and the easiest way to do that is to pull one out of your pocket. Just take out a penny, nickel, or other coin and examine the raised images on it; they're all bas-reliefs. English speakers adopted "bas-relief" from French (where "bas" means "low" and "relief" means "raised work") during the mid-1600s. A few decades earlier, we also borrowed the synonymous "basso-relievo" from Italian. The French and Italian terms have common ancestors (and, in fact, the French word is likely a translation of the Italian), but English speakers apparently borrowed the two independently. "Bas-relief" is more prevalent in English today, although the Italian-derived term has not disappeared completely from the language.