abstrakt

Abstrakt is a term used in several European languages to denote the concept of abstraction. The word derives from Latin abstractus, via Old French abstrait, and entered languages such as Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, German, and Dutch with meanings related to drawing away from concrete particulars to general, non-physical qualities. As an adjective it describes ideas, forms, or representations that are not tied to a specific object.

In art, abstraction or abstract art uses shape, color, and texture to express ideas rather than depict recognizable subjects. It emphasizes composition and sensation over likeness. The movement emerged in the early 20th century among artists seeking to convey inner experience rather than overt narration.

In philosophy and science, abstraction is the process of isolating essential features of a phenomenon to study it more generally. In computer science, abstraction underlies model design and software interfaces, enabling complexity management by exposing only necessary details. The term is used across disciplines to distinguish between concrete instances and generalized concepts.

In Scandinavian publishing, the term abstrakt is commonly used to label the short summary of a scholarly work, analogous to the English "abstract." The word also appears in everyday language as the direct translation of abstract in its various senses, reflecting the broad application of the concept from art to theory to computation.