What does ‘art’ mean?
There are three very important questions you should ask yourself when learning a new word:
- What does it mean?
- What’s the grammar of the word?
- How would you use it?
What does it mean?
When you look up a word in a dictionary it can be confusing because there are so many different meanings for one word. Try and think about where you found the word and what the sentence was about. This post is about the word ‘art’ because I’ve just taught two lessons on the subject of responding to and appreciating art. So the meaning of ‘art’ that best goes with my lesson is that it is a creation of a work of beauty or other special significance.
What’s the grammar of the word?
Art is a noun. We can also use this word to talk about all art so you can also call it a ‘collective noun.’ You can describe a person as ‘artful’ but, strangely, this is usually a negative adjective. Another, very positive, adjective is ‘artistic.’ Even although language changes and develops all the time to adapt to our needs, I’ve not yet heard of art used as a verb.
How would you use it?
We can use this words with lots of other words to create ‘phrases.’ You can talk about
a work of art
fine art
the arts
the art of …(with any gerund like building, drawing, dancing, shopping)
arts and crafts
graphic art
cyberart
The list goes on and on. For more phrases with art and suggestions for how to use it go to to wikipedia here .
I’ll leave you with the origins of the word.
Celtic Mythology: Art
[Irish, bear, in the sense of champion]
A name borne by several legendary heroes, of whom the best known is Art mac Cuinn, as well as some figures in genealogies. The name is sometimes confused with Arthur but Art is not derived from Arthur