encaustic

American  

[en-kaw-stik] / ɛnˈkɔ stɪk /

adjective

1. painted with wax colors fixed with heat, or with any process in which colors are burned in.

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noun

1. a work of art produced by an encaustic process.

encaustic British  

/ ɪnˈkɒstɪk /

adjective

1. decorated by any process involving burning in colours, esp by inlaying coloured clays and baking or by fusing wax colours to the surface

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noun

1. the process of burning in colours

2. a product of such a process

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• encaustically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of encaustic

1650–60; < Latin encausticus < Greek enkaustikós for burning in. See en- ², caustic

Example Sentences

She is painted in encaustic, a beeswax medium that is very difficult to work with.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026

In the adjoining bathroom, you’ll find brass switchplates and a hand-drawn and -painted black-and-white encaustic tile inspired by European antique bobbin furniture legs.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2025

Four of the icons - encaustic paintings on wood from Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt's Sinai desert - date from the 6th and early 7th centuries.

From Reuters • Jun. 13, 2023

Adopting these discarded — or, as she puts it, “orphaned” — photos became an obsession, and now she regularly uses them as collage elements in mysterious encaustic and multimedia paintings.

From Seattle Times • May 24, 2023

As the chief aim in encaustic painting was the securing of permanence and durability by the application of heat, the word encaustic has been applied to other and widely different processes.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 2: Ebert to Estremadura by Various