bas-relief

See also: basrelief, Basrelief, and bas relief

English

Alternative forms

• basrelief
• bas relief
• bass-relief (archaic)

Etymology

From French bas-relief, from Italian bassorilievo, compound of basso (“low”) + rilievo (“relief”), from Latin relevare (“to raise up, make light”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbæs.ɹɪˌliːf/, /ˈbɑː.ɹɪˌliːf/, /ˈbɑs.ɹɪˌliːf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌbɑ.ɹɪˈlif/, /ˌbæs.ɹɪˈlif/, /ˈbɑ.ɹɪˌlif/, /ˈbæs.ɹɪˌlif/

Noun

bas-relief (countable and uncountable, plural bas-reliefs)

1. (sculpture) A low or mostly-flat sculpture which is carved into a wall, or is in the form of a tile mounted flat to a wall, rather than a fully three-dimensional, free-standing figure.

Synonyms

• basso-rilievo, basso-relievo
• cameo (jewelry)
• low relief

Antonyms

• alto-relievo, high relief

Translations

a low or mostly-flat sculpture

Armenian: հարթաքանդակ (hy) (hartʻakʻandak) Belarusian: барэлье́ф m (barelʹjéf) Bulgarian: барелеф (bg) m (barelef) Catalan: baix relleu (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 浮雕 (zh) (fúdiāo) Crimean Tatar: barelyef Dutch: bas-reliëf (nl) n Esperanto: bareliefo Finnish: reliefi (fi) French: bas-relief (fr) m Galician: baixo-relevo m German: Basrelief (de) n, Flachrelief (de) n Greek: χαμηλό ανάγλυφο n (chamiló anáglyfo) Irish: rilíf íseal f Italian: bassorilievo (it) m Japanese: 浅浮き彫り (あさうきぼり, asa ukibori) Kazakh: барельеф (barelef) Piedmontese: bas-riliev m Polish: płaskorzeźba (pl) f Portuguese: baixo-relevo (pt) m Russian: барелье́ф (ru) m (barelʹjéf) Spanish: bajorrelieve (es) m Turkish: alçak rölyef (tr) Ukrainian: барельє́ф (uk) m (barelʹjéf) Welsh: basgerfwedd f, cerfwedd isel f

Adjective

bas-relief (not comparable)

1. Refers to any aspect of sculpture which is flat or in the bas relief style.

Further reading

• bas-relief on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:bas-relief on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• balefires

French

Alternative forms

• bas relief

Etymology

Calque of Italian bassorilievo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.ʁə.ljɛf/ ~ /bɑ.ʁə.ljɛf/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bas-relief m (plural bas-reliefs)

1. bas-relief

   Coordinate term: haut-relief

Descendants

• → Dutch: bas-reliëf
• → English: bas-relief
• → German: Basrelief
• → Russian: барелье́ф (barelʹjéf) (see there for further descendants)
• → Ukrainian: барельє́ф (barelʹjéf)

Further reading

• “bas-relief”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.