Standard Lemma guide

skeuomorph

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ˈskjuːəmɔɹf/
  • skyo͞oʹə-môrf
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A design feature copied from a similar feature in another object, even when not functionally necessary.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1987, Alexander von Gernet, Peter Timmins, Pipes and Parakeets: Constructing Meaning in an Early Iroquoian Context, Ian Hodder, Archaeology As Long-Term History, page 37, One of the most striking examples of a skeuomorph is the aforementioned impaled bird motif which has the stem of a pipe thrust through the body of a duck or other bird, so that the mouthpiece protrudes from the bill.
  • 2000, "skeuomorph", entry in Barbara Ann Kipfer, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology, page 519, A decorative bow attached to a shoe is a skeuomorph of the laces once used to tie it; triangular shapes drawn below handles on pottery are skeuomorphs of the metal plates by which the handles on metal prototypes were attached; and the semicircular mark on the back of a teaspoon represents the broadening of the handle where it was soldered to the bowl when it used to be made in two pieces.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σκεῦος (skeûos, “implement, tool, vessel”) + μορφή (morphḗ, “form”), modeled after zoomorph (“resembling an animal”) and phyllomorph (“resembling a plant”).

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: skeuomorfi — design feature