tempera

[ tem-per-uh ]

noun

1. a technique of painting in which an emulsion consisting of water and pure egg yolk or a mixture of egg and oil is used as a binder or medium, characterized by its lean film-forming properties and rapid drying rate.
2. a painting executed in this technique.
3. a water paint used in this technique in which the egg-water or egg-oil emulsion is used as a binder. Compare distemper ²( defs 1, 2 ).

tempera

/ ˈtɛmpərə /

noun

1. a painting medium for powdered pigments, consisting usually of egg yolk and water
2. 1. any emulsion used as a painting medium, with casein, glue, wax, etc, as a base
   2. the paint made from mixing this with pigment
3. the technique of painting with tempera

Word History and Origins

Origin of tempera¹

1825–35; < Italian, short for ( pingere a ) tempera (painting in) distemper, derivative of temperare to mingle, temper; temper

Word History and Origins

Origin of tempera¹

C19: from Italian phrase pingere a tempera painting in tempera, from temperare to mingle; see temper

Example Sentences

The worthy effort to emphasize that much of the artist’s inventive genius — unfurling in thousands of manuscript pages, rather than oil paint and tempera — makes the dull staging a perhaps unavoidable conceit.

From Los Angeles Times

When Leonardo is an apprentice, painters in Italy use tempera: water plus color plus egg yolk.

From Literature

It includes “The Ghost of a Flea,” Tate’s rarely loaned, murky miniature painting in dark tempera and gold on hardwood panel starring a monstrous, human-insect hybrid looking hungrily into a bucket of blood.

From Los Angeles Times

Call it the wailing of the banshees or whatever else you want, but Trump now seems the living embodiment of Edvard Munch's famous 1893 painting in oil tempera, pastel and crayon, "The Scream."

From Salon

In the workshop, led by the artist and educator Harumi Ori, young people will decorate their projects with tempera paint, letting their own imaginations take flight.

From New York Times

Related Words

• acrylic
• color
• cosmetic
• dye
• enamel
• latex
• makeup
• oil
• pigment
• stain
• varnish
• wax