Graphic Novel
/ˈɡræfɪk ˈnɒvəl/noun
A book-length story told through sequential illustrations and text.
Did you know?The phrase became widely popular in the 1970s, although illustrated book-length narratives existed long before the term itself, including medieval manuscripts and nineteenth-century picture stories.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gerbh-
“To scratch, carve, or write; the ancestral root behind graphic.”
Ancient Greek
Greek
graphein
“To scratch, inscribe, write, or draw.”
Late Antiquity
Greek
graphikos
“Of writing, drawing, or representation; the source of graphic.”
14th Century
Latin
novellus
“New or young; a diminutive form derived from novus, “new.””
15th Century
English
novel
“New, unusual, or unfamiliar; later, a fictional prose narrative.”
20th Century
English
graphic novel
“A book-length illustrated narrative, a modern compound combining graphic with the literary sense of novel.”