cartouche

American  

[kahr-toosh] / kɑrˈtuʃ /

Or cartouch

noun

1. Architecture. a rounded, convex surface, usually surrounded with carved ornamental scrollwork, for receiving a painted or low-relief decoration, as an escutcheon.

2. an oval or oblong figure, as on ancient Egyptian monuments, enclosing characters that represent the name of a sovereign.

3. the case containing the inflammable materials in certain fireworks.

4. cartridge.

5. a box for cartridges.

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cartouche British  

/ kɑːˈtuːʃ /

noun

1. a carved or cast ornamental tablet or panel in the form of a scroll, sometimes having an inscription

2. an oblong figure enclosing characters expressing royal or divine names in Egyptian hieroglyphics

3. the paper case holding combustible materials in certain fireworks

4. rare a cartridge or a box for cartridges

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Etymology

Origin of cartouche

1605–15; < Middle French < Italian cartoccio, equivalent to cart ( a ) paper ( carte ) + -occio augmentative suffix

Example Sentences

“If you inspect the birth-name cartouche closely, you see clear, underlying traces of a reed leaf,” he said in an email.

From New York Times • Oct. 30, 2022

They unearthed the well-preserved city that had almost complete walls and rooms filled with tools of daily life along with rings, scarabs, coloured pottery vessels and mud bricks bearing seals of Amenhotep’s cartouche.

From Reuters • Apr. 8, 2021

Included among the items were gold amulets, a relief with the cartouche of a Ptolemaic king, wooden tomb model figures, and two Roman period funerary stelae.

From Fox News • Jul. 7, 2020

One unusual artifact was a ceramic decorative piece believed to have adorned a facade, a cartouche.

From Washington Times • Apr. 27, 2019

The transliteration of a cartouche of Ptolemy from the Rosetta stone and one of Cleopatra from the Philae obelisk.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan