What does scrim mean?
Scrim is a lightweight, open-weave fabric similar to gauze. Its best-known use is in the theatre, film, and television, where a large sheet of scrim is suspended before or behind performers and lights. Black or opaque scrim can conceal equipment or people, while pale or translucent scrim can diffuse light, suggest mist, or transform the apparent depth of a set. Outside performance contexts, the word can also refer to gauze-like material used as a covering, filter, screen, or backing in crafts and textile work. Its associations are therefore strongly practical and visual: it suggests something light, semi-transparent, and capable of concealing or softening what lies behind it. Although scrim is related in appearance to gauze, it is usually distinguished by its larger, more open, structural weave and its frequent use across scenery and lighting. The term is uncommon in everyday speech, but it is well established among theatre practitioners, photographers, and textile workers.
nounA lightweight, open-weave fabric resembling gauze, especially one used in the theatre to obscure performers or equipment or to alter the appearance of light. More generally, it is a piece of such material used as a covering, screen, filter, or backing.
- A lightweight, gauze-like fabric used in theatre, film, and television to conceal people or objects, diffuse lighting, or create scenic effects.
- A piece or panel of gauze-like material used as a covering, screen, filter, or textile backing.
"She lowered a black scrim across the stage, allowing the scene behind it to appear gradually as the lights rose."
"A thin scrim covered the backstage area while the performers changed costumes."
"The embroiderer stretched the fabric over a frame and stitched the design onto a piece of scrim."
The plural is used for separate pieces, panels, or layers of the material.
"Several scrims hung behind the set to create the illusion of distant buildings."
In the theatre, a scrim can conceal an entire scene, soften a spotlight, or make an empty stage seem to disappear.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does scrim come from?
Scrim entered English by the early 17th century for a thin textile or gauze-like material. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, and no group of securely established cognates can be identified with confidence. Its early history is therefore better understood through the history of the material and its later theatrical use than through a definite reconstruction of its linguistic ancestry.
How scrim is actually used
The word is most familiar in British and American performance media. In general craft, textile, and photographic contexts, it refers to the material's light, open weave and its function as a sheer covering or support.
Easily confused with scrim
A scrim is a gauze-like fabric or screen, whereas to scrimp means to economize or limit something.