What does crosshatched mean?
"Crosshatched" describes a surface or image that has been shaded with two or more sets of parallel lines drawn across each other, usually at an angle. The technique, known as crosshatching, is fundamental to pen-and-ink drawing, copperplate engraving, and etching: because a single line can only be so dark, artists layer intersecting strokes to build up deeper tones, denser grids producing darker shadow. As an adjective, "crosshatched" typically appears in discussions of prints, drawings, and engravings — "a crosshatched background," for instance — but it is also used more loosely for any texture resembling such a lattice, from scarred skin to woven fabric. The word carries connotations of craftsmanship and careful, laborious mark-making, evoking the patient hand of the traditional illustrator or engraver. For readers, it is a useful term for describing both a specific artistic method and the distinctive striped-grid appearance that method produces.
Shaded or marked with intersecting sets of parallel lines.
"The portrait's face was rendered almost entirely in crosshatched strokes."
Usually the participial form of the verb "crosshatch"; common in art-historical and technical writing.
Past tense and past participle of "crosshatch": to shade with intersecting sets of parallel lines.
"She crosshatched the background until it deepened to near-black."
Old master etchers could conjure glowing skin and velvet darkness using nothing but tiny crosshatched scratches — no ink washes, just lines crossing lines.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crosshatched
The word combines "cross" (from Old Norse "kross", ultimately Latin "crux") with "hatch", a term for parallel shading lines in engraving that developed from Middle English "hatchen", meaning to engrave or score lines, itself of Germanic origin. The compound "crosshatch" arose in English in the context of printmaking and draughtsmanship, where hatching had long been the standard term for parallel-line shading; adding a second layer of lines crossing the first gave the combined term. It functions as both verb and adjective in standard British and American usage.
How crosshatched is actually used
"Crosshatched" is most often the past participle of the verb "crosshatch", functioning adjectivally. It belongs chiefly to the vocabulary of art, printmaking, and technical drawing, though it is extended figuratively (and sometimes literally) to describe any surface bearing a lattice of intersecting lines.
Easily confused with crosshatched
"Hatched" refers to a single set of parallel lines used for shading, while "crosshatched" specifically means two or more such sets layered at angles to one another.