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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pastiche.

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

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pæˈstiːʃ/
  1. 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
  2. A musical medley, typically quoting other works.

    countable · uncountable
  3. An incongruous mixture; a hodgepodge.

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

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/pæˈstiːʃ/
  1. To create or compose in a mixture of styles.

Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.