Other forms: watermarks
A watermark is a faint mark over an image showing who owns it. Add a watermark, a watermarked photo, remove the watermark.
The original is in paper: a design pressed into the sheet while wet, which shows when held up to light and is a standard security feature on banknotes. The digital kind is laid over an image to stop it being used without payment. Note the high-water mark, which is a different thing entirely.
1nounwatermarkA faint mark over an image showing who owns it.
“The photographer puts a watermark across her online photos so nobody can steal them.”
2noundesignA design pressed into paper, visible against light.
“Hold the banknote up to the light, and you can see the watermark.”
watermark is a mark.
Water plus mark, from the papermaking sense — a design made in the sheet while it is still wet.
From water + mark.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in News & Communication