easel

noun

ea·​sel ˈē-zəl 

: a frame for supporting something (such as an artist's canvas)

Illustration of easel

Examples of easel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The facilitator wrote these down on his giant easel, flipping back and forth between different pages, trying to house them all. — Esther King, The Dial, 15 Sep. 2026

For your next craft night, set up the mini canvases on easels, lay out the supplies, turn on a nostalgic Halloween movie, and whip up a few seasonal snacks to munch on for the coziest autumn night. — Claire Hoppe Norgaard, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Sep. 2026

For drawings in ink the paper sits on a table; for metalpoint it is attached with pushpins to a stiff board, which rests on an easel. — Jeffrey Weiss, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026

Local officials posed around the giant baby blue ceremonial check, applauding as the mayor positioned it on an easel in view of the television cameras. — Tamar Hallerman, AJC.com, 24 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Dutch ezel, literally, "donkey," going back to Middle Dutch esel, going back to Germanic *asil- (whence Old Saxon & Old High German esil "donkey," Old English esol, eosol, Gothic asilus), altered from Latin asinus — more at ass entry 1

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for easel

• weasel
• biodiesel

Kids Definition

easel

noun

ea·​sel ˈē-zəl 

: a frame for supporting something (as an artist's canvas)

Etymology

from Dutch ezel "a frame to hold an artist's canvas," literally, "donkey"

Word Origin

An easel is a frame for holding up such things as an artist's painting or a chalkboard. In the 17th century the Dutch had become famous throughout Europe for their oil painting. Thus it was their word ezel, which they used to refer to this piece of equipment, that was borrowed into English around that time. This sense of ezel was an extension of the original meaning "donkey," probably because an easel, like a beast of burden, is used to hold things.