woodblock

[ wood-blok ]

noun

1. a block of wood engraved in relief, for printing from; woodcut.
2. a print or impression from such a block.
3. a hollow block of hard wood struck with a wooden stick or mallet and used in the percussion section of an orchestra.

adjective

1. made from a woodblock:

   woodblock prints.

Word History and Origins

Origin of woodblock¹

First recorded in 1830–40; wood ¹ + block

Example Sentences

This is English artist Charles William Bartlett’s 1919 woodblock print on paper rendition of Punjab’s Golden Temple, a sacred shrine for Sikhs.

From BBC

Dover-born Bartlett was one of the world’s leading Japanese woodblock painters, and later switched to fine art.

From BBC

He designed 38 woodblock prints for his Japanese publisher from 1916 to 1925, including many scenes from his travels in South Asia.

From BBC

Jitendra V. Singh was nearly 60, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, when he finally bought his first woodblock print by the revered Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai, whose work from the Edo 19th century includes a masterly series, “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.”

From New York Times

Jitendra V. Singh was nearly 60, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, when he finally bought his first woodblock print by the revered Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai, whose work from the Edo 19th century includes a masterly series, “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.”

From New York Times