billedlig

Billedlig is a Danish term used in literary criticism and rhetoric to describe language or imagery that is figurative rather than literal. Billedlig language relies on pictures, images or allegory to convey meaning, often through metaphor, simile, personification, or other figures of speech.

Etymology: The word combines billede, meaning image or picture, with lig, a suffix meaning like or pertaining to, producing an literally “image-like” or “pictorial” sense. It is commonly contrasted with bogstavelig or literal language.

Usage: Billedlig is applied to describe styles or passages that invite mental imagery. It covers everything from vivid descriptive language to figurative devices. In literary criticism, one may label a description as billedlig if it relies on image rather than direct statement, for example a billedlig beskrivelse of a scene that emphasizes sensory detail and metaphor.

Notes: The term is more common in Danish-language scholarship and may appear alongside other terms for figurative language such as figurativt, metafor, or allegori. It is primarily adjectival; when discussing speech, critics often prefer figurativt sprog or specific devices like metaforer or allegorier.

See also: figurativt sprog; metafor; allegori; bogstavelig.