vignette

Etymology

First attested in 1751. From French vignette, diminutive of vigne (“vine”), from Latin vīnea, from vīnum (“wine”). Replaced earlier vinet.

Pronunciation

• enPR: vĭn-yĕtʹ, IPA^(key): /vɪnˈjɛt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

vignette (plural vignettes)

1. (architecture) A running ornament consisting of leaves and tendrils, used in Gothic architecture.
2. (printing) A decorative design, originally representing vine branches or tendrils, at the head of a chapter, of a manuscript or printed book, or in a similar position.
3. (by extension) Any small borderless picture in a book, especially an engraving, photograph, or the like, which vanishes gradually at the edge.
4. (by extension) A short story or anecdote that presents a scene or tableau, or paints a picture.
5. The small picture on a postage stamp.
6. (photography) The characteristic of a camera lens, either by deficiency in design or by mismatch of the lens with the film format, to produce an image smaller than the film's frame with a crudely focused border. Photographers may deliberately choose this characteristic for a special effect.

Verb

vignette (third-person singular simple present vignettes, present participle vignetting, simple past and past participle vignetted)

1. To make, as an engraving or a photograph, with a border or edge gradually fading away.
   • 1922, T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Book Five, Chapter 68,

     Long minutes afterwards the sun disclosed itself, high above the earth's rim, over a vignetted bank of edgeless mist.

   • 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, “Saoma,”

     Along the wainscot lie heaps of bolsters and quilts, covered with old-fashioned chintzes. Before the War these chintzes were specially made in Russia for the Central Asian market: one bolster depicts steamships, early motor-cars, and the first aeroplane, vignetted in circles of flowers on a vermilion background.

Etymology

vigne +‎ -ette.

Noun

vignette f (plural vignettes)

1. vignette
2. image, illustration, motif

Noun

vignette f

1. plural of vignetta