/skrah fee"toh/ ; It. /zgrddahf fee"taw/ , n. , pl. sgraffiti /-tee/ .
1. a technique of ornamentation in which a surface layer of paint, plaster, slip, etc., is incised to reveal a ground of contrasting color.
2. an object, esp. pottery, decorated by this technique. Cf. graffito .
[ 1720-30; sgraffire to do graffito work, deriv. of sgraffio a scratch, implement for drawing, itself deriv. of ( s ) graffiare to scratch, draw on plaster with a pointed tool; see EX 1 , GRAFFITO ]