Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

pastiche

/pæˈstiːʃ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.52 in modern English

Syllables: pas-tiche
IPA: /pæˈstiːʃ/

15

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist, usually in a positive or neutral way.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A musical medley, typically quoting other works.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

An incongruous mixture; a hodgepodge.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A postmodern playwriting technique that fuses a variety of styles, genres, and story lines to create a new form.

Uncountable

verb

To create or compose in a mixture of styles.

Example Sentences

"He argued that the failure of the future was constitutive of a postmodern cultural scene which, as he correctly prophesied, would become dominated by pastiche and revivalism."
"This supposed research paper is a pastiche of passages from unrelated sources."
"The house failed to attract a buyer because the decor was a pastiche of Bohemian and Scandinavian styles."
"That the genetic code of the platypus proved to be as bizarrely pastiched as its anatomy enhanced the popular appeal of the report, published in the journal Nature."

Etymology

Via French pastiche, from Italian pasticcio (“pie, something blended”), from Vulgar Latin *pastīcius, from Late Latin pasta (“dough, pastry cake, paste”), from Ancient Greek παστά (pastá, “barley porridge”), from παστός (pastós, “sprinkled with salt”). Doublet of pasticcio.

Origin

Source language: French

Word Breakdown

Root: pastiche, pasticcio, *pastīcius, pasta, παστά

Usage

Inflected Forms

pastiches (plural) pastiches (present, singular) pastiching (participle, present) pastiched (participle, past) pastiched (past)

Frequently Paired Words

cento collage parody

Synonyms

medley potpourri

Rhymes With

leash unleash sheesh quiche ashish mcleish rajneesh eash niche hashish corniche laois

Questions

How do you pronounce pastiche?: The recorded pronunciation is /pæˈstiːʃ/.
What does pastiche mean?: A work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist, usually in a positive or neutral way.
Where does pastiche come from?: It is traced to French.

How to pronounce pastiche

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “pastiche”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/pæˈstiːʃ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “pastiche”.
Repeat and practice — Say “pastiche” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.