Word
Definition
n. a wooden frame used to hold a picture while an artist is painting it.
n. an upright support, typically a wooden tripod, used by an artist to display or secure a canvas during the creative process.
Examples
“She places the canvas on the easel before she starts painting.”
“The art teacher walked around the room, stopping at each student's easel to offer advice on their brushwork.”
“In the corner of the sunlit studio stood a heavy oak easel, still bearing the unfinished landscape that had occupied the painter's final months.”
Examples
simple
“She places the canvas on the easel before she starts painting.”
contextual
“The art teacher walked around the room, stopping at each student's easel to offer advice on their brushwork.”
complex
“In the corner of the sunlit studio stood a heavy oak easel, still bearing the unfinished landscape that had occupied the painter's final months.”
Collocations
Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word “easel” in context.
Verb
01. collapse easel
“After the class, the students had to collapse their easels and store them.”
verb + noun
02. easel collapses
“The easel collapsed under the weight of the heavy wooden frame.”
noun + verb
03. easel stands
“A lone easel stands in the corner of the dusty studio.”
noun + verb
04. mount on easel
“The finished portrait was mounted on an easel for the gallery opening.”
verb + prep + noun
05. set up easel
“He began to set up his easel near the riverbank before the light changed.”
verb + noun
Adjective
06. adjustable easel
“An adjustable easel allows you to work at various heights and angles.”
adj + noun
07. portable easel
“She carried a portable easel to the park to paint the landscape.”
adj + noun
08. wooden easel
“The artist placed a fresh canvas on the sturdy wooden easel.”
adj + noun
Noun
09. artist's easel
“The room was cluttered with brushes, paints, and an artist's easel.”
noun + noun
10. display easel
“We used a display easel to show the seating plan at the wedding.”
noun + noun
11. propped up on an easel
“The large map was propped up on an easel at the front of the room.”
12. work at an easel
“She prefers to work at an easel rather than sitting at a desk.”
Real-World Examples
“To honor Altona’s status as “the Sunflower Capital of Canada,” he would erect The Big Easel, a 75-foot-tall sculpture of an easel displaying a reproduction of one of Vincent van Gogh’s (1853–1890) famed sunflower paintings.” “Made using riftsawn beech and steel hardware, this easel has an A-shaped frame with angled legs.” “Replaced in 1996 by partitioned walls, Lina Bo Bardi’s glass easels were brought back to MASP in 2015 for the launch of the museum‘s long-term exhibition, dubbed Collection in Transformation.” “While attending a plein air art show in Colorado, it became evident to Dorpfeld that artists were struggling with their art benches, also called donkey easels or art horses.” Etymology
From the Dutch ezel, meaning both donkey and easel, the term entered English as a borrowing from a culture that evidently viewed artistic labour and manual haulage with the same level of sympathy. The Dutch derived the word from Middle Dutch esel, which descended from the Proto-West Germanic *asil. This was in turn a debt to the Latin asellus, a diminutive of asinus, the term for a young or small donkey.
The word traces its ultimate origins to an unknown source in Asia Minor. The linguistic logic rests upon the comparison of a wooden frame to a beast of burden, an unglamorous metaphor that aligns the supporting of a canvas with the work of a pack animal. This habit of naming inanimate frames after four-legged creatures is well-established in the Germanic tradition; the easel simply performs for the painter what the clotheshorse or sawhorse performs for the laundress and the carpenter.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms
Related words
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.B2 FirstIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.5.5–6.5TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 4.0–4.572–94TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.785–944
- Frequency
- Occasional
- Level
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Updated
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「日本語」 data: JMdict (EDRDG), CC BY-SA 4.0