What does lithographed mean?
Lithographed describes something made through lithography, a printing process based on the principle that grease repels ink and that an image drawn on a flat surface can be transferred to paper. The word is commonly associated with posters, prints, maps, and other visual works whose images were prepared on stone or metal plates before printing. As a past-tense or past-participle verb form, lithographed means to have reproduced an image by this technique. The term has a somewhat historical or artistic flavor, especially when referring to fine-art prints, but it remains useful for describing a specific printing process. It should not be confused with “lithographic,” which is the corresponding adjective and can describe the method or its products more generally.
Made, printed, or reproduced by lithography.
"The gallery acquired a lithographed poster from the original performance."
Commonly used with words such as “poster,” “print,” “map,” and “image.”
To print or reproduce something using lithography.
"The studio lithographed hundreds of copies of the illustration."
This is the past tense and past participle of “lithograph.”
Before modern photographic printing, lithography turned carefully drawn images into finely detailed stone prints.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does lithographed come from?
The word belongs to the family of English lithography, borrowed from French lithographie and ultimately from Greek lithos, meaning “stone,” combined with graphia, meaning “writing.” The underlying idea is writing or drawing on a stone surface for printing. The process was developed in the late eighteenth century and became especially important for the production of posters and reproductive prints.
Related word forms
How lithographed is actually used
As an adjective, “lithographed” usually describes a printed image or artwork produced by lithography. As a verb form, it is used in the past tense and past participle of “lithograph.”