technique

Borrowed from French technique (“technicality; branch of knowledge”), noun use of technique (“technical”), from Ancient Greek τεχνικός (tekhnikós, “of or pertaining to art, artistic, skilful”), from τέχνη (tékhnē, “art, handicraft”), from τίκτειν (tíktein, “to bring forth, produce, engender”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /tɛkˈniːk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːk

technique (countable and uncountable, plural techniques)

1. (uncountable) The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements. [from 19th c.]
   • 1924, HE Wortham, A Musical Odyssey, page 97:

     Brahms, after realizing that the technique of the piano was developing along mistaken lines, and his own danger of stereotyping his style, keeps away from it for most of his middle age [...].

   • 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:

     Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.

2. (uncountable) Practical ability in some given field or practice, often as opposed to creativity or imaginative skill. [from 19th c.]
   • 2011 February 3, “Bhimsen Joshi”, in The Economist:

     Yet those who packed concert halls to listen to him sing, as Indians did for over six decades, rarely mentioned his technique.

3. (countable) A method of achieving something or carrying something out, especially one requiring some skill or knowledge. [from 19th c.]
   • 2011 March 16, Paul Lewis, Matthew Taylor, The Guardian:

     They said executives were warned about one technique nicknamed "carpet karaoke", which involved bending deportees over in aircraft seats to silence them.

• technic
• technical
• technician
• techniquing

• “technique”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “technique”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “technique”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Borrowed from Ancient Greek τεχνικός (tekhnikós, “relating to art, artistic, skilful”), from τέχνη (tékhnē, “art, handicraft”), from τίκτειν (tíktein, “to bring forth, produce”).

• IPA^(key): /tɛk.nik/

• audio

  (file)

technique (plural techniques)

1. technical

• chômage technique
• terme technique

technique f (plural techniques)

1. technique, technology

• “technique”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.