stick figure

See also: stickfigure

English

Alternative forms

• stickfigure (rare)

Noun

stick figure (plural stick figures)

1. A simple drawing, usually representing a human.

   Hyponyms: stickman, stickwoman

   1. A line drawing with a circle for the head and straight lines for the torso and limbs.
      • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 110:

        The first thing one notices about the painting is the striking difference in style between the human figure and the animals; the animals are rendered in the naturalistic style of the other figures at Lascaux, but the man is a mere stick figure and is so stylized as to seem some sort of mediation between the naturalistic style of the animals on the one hand and the abstract signs on the other.

   2. An outline, with a more realistic body shape, commonly used on warning signs, bathroom doors, and in other such symbols.
2. (derogatory) A skinny person.

Translations

simple line drawing

• Catalan: figura de pal f, ninot de pal m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 火柴人 (huǒchái rén)

• Finnish: tikku-ukko (fi)
• French: bonhomme bâton m, bonhomme allumette (fr) m
• German: Strichmännchen (de) n
• Irish: duine cipíneach m
• Korean: 막대인간 (makdaein'gan)
• Norwegian: strekfigur m
• Portuguese: boneco de palito (pt) m
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: streckgubbe (sv) c
• Turkish: çöp adam
• Vietnamese: người que