Prompting

The vocabulary that makes AI prompts precise — light, palette, framing, voice, and the old magic of words

3 categories66 words

About This Collection

A prompt is only as precise as its vocabulary. A model can render backlit, desaturated, isometric, or elegiac — but only if you can say them. This group teaches the words prompting actually consumes: the language of light, color, and composition for describing images, and the tone and register words that pin down a voice. It also collects the words of power themselves — spell, grimoire, incantation, true name — because prompting is humanity's oldest belief about language finally made literal: say the right words, and the world reorders.

All 3 Categories

🖼️

Light, Color & Composition

The vocabulary of images — light, palette, and framing for saying exactly what you want to see

21 words

🎭

Tone & Register

Words that pin down a voice — for writing it yourself, or asking a model for it

23 words

🪄

Words of Power

The old vocabulary of verbal magic — and why the age of prompting revived it

22 words

All 66 Words in Prompting

Complete vocabulary list for easy reference and copy-paste.

🖼️Light, Color & Composition21

Term	Definition	Example
golden hour	the soft, warm light just after sunrise or before sunset	"Prompting for golden hour turned the flat scene warm and long-shadowed."
backlit	lit from behind, so the subject rims with light	"Backlit and slightly hazy, the figure became a halo of edges."
silhouette	a subject rendered as a dark shape against light	"Ask for a silhouette against the harbor dusk and the details fall away."
tenebrism	dramatic darkness with subjects spotlit out of black	"Caravaggio's tenebrism — one candle, a wall of night — is a single word in a prompt."
sfumato	edges melted into smoky, gradual transitions	"The Mona Lisa's mouth is sfumato: no lines, only smoke."
opalescent	showing a milky play of shifting colors	"An opalescent glaze gave the render its soap-bubble sheen."
matte	a flat, non-reflective surface finish	"Matte lighting kills the glare and calms the frame."
glossy	smooth and mirror-shiny	"Glossy ceramic under studio light — the prompt asked for reflections."
saturated	colors at full intensity	"Push the palette to saturated and the market scene turns tropical."
desaturated	colors drained toward gray	"A desaturated palette reads as memory, winter, or grief."
monochrome	a single hue and its shades	"Monochrome blue turned the harbor into a cyanotype."
sepia	the warm brown of antique photographs	"Sepia tone plus film grain: instant 1900."
pastel	pale, chalky, low-saturation color	"A pastel palette softened the whole cityscape to sugared almonds."
vignette	edges darkened or faded to draw the eye inward	"A slight vignette pulls the viewer to the lit face."
bokeh	the soft, out-of-focus glow of background lights	"Night street, shallow focus, bokeh like lanterns behind her."
depth of field	how much of the scene is in focus from near to far	"Shallow depth of field isolates the cup; deep keeps the whole café sharp."
wide-angle	a lens view that takes in more scene and stretches perspective	"Wide-angle from a low corner makes the alley loom."
isometric	a three-dimensional view without perspective, like a game diorama	"Isometric render of a tiny bakery, every wall at the same slant."
bird's-eye view	looking straight down from above	"A bird's-eye view flattens the market into a mosaic of umbrellas."
negative space	the empty area around a subject, used as a compositional element	"Let negative space do the talking: one swimmer, a page of sea."
rule of thirds	placing subjects on the lines of a three-by-three grid rather than dead center	"Framed by the rule of thirds, the lighthouse sits a breath off-center."

🎭Tone & Register23

Term	Definition	Example
wry	dry, twisted humor delivered with a straight face	"Keep the caption wry: amused, never mocking."
sardonic	scornfully mocking; grimly cynical	"The narrator's sardonic asides undercut every triumph."
mordant	biting, corrosive wit	"Her mordant review closed three restaurants' worth of pretension."
droll	amusing in an odd, understated way	"A droll footnote lightens the contract's slog."
acerbic	sharp and sour in tone	"The acerbic memo said what everyone had only muttered."
clinical	detached, precise, and emotionless	"Describe the accident in clinical prose and let the facts do the wounding."
lyrical	songlike, expressive, emotionally rich	"The essay turns lyrical the moment the train leaves the plains."
elegiac	mournful for something lost	"An elegiac closing paragraph turned the farewell post into a eulogy."
irreverent	cheerfully disrespectful toward what is usually treated as sacred	"The onboarding copy is irreverent without ever being unkind."
earnest	serious and sincere, without irony	"Write the apology earnest and plain — no jokes, no hedges."
breezy	casual, light, effortlessly informal	"Keep the newsletter breezy: short sentences, warm asides."
jaunty	bouncy, confident cheerfulness	"A jaunty headline can carry a dull quarterly report."
understated	deliberately restrained; saying less than you could	"The eulogy was understated, which is why it landed."
measured	careful, unhurried, deliberate	"Respond in a measured tone even when the review is unfair."
colloquial	belonging to everyday speech rather than formal writing	"Make the dialogue colloquial: contractions, interruptions, slang."
plainspoken	direct and unadorned	"The plainspoken FAQ outperformed the clever one."
folksy	homespun, neighborly informality	"The folksy voice-over sells the pickup truck, not the sedan."
oracular	grand, cryptic, and prophetic in manner	"The founder's oracular one-liners required interpretation."
clipped	cut short; brisk, terse delivery	"Answer in clipped sentences: the character is furious and polite."
telegraphic	stripped to essential words, like a telegram	"Telegraphic style: subject, verb, out."
purple prose	writing so ornate it calls attention to itself	"One metaphor per page; any more and it curdles into purple prose."
tongue-in-cheek	meant ironically rather than literally	"The acceptance speech was tongue-in-cheek from the first bow."
matter-of-fact	unemotional and practical, even about dramatic things	"She was matter-of-fact about the rescue, as if reciting a recipe."

🪄Words of Power22

Term	Definition	Example
incantation	a formula of words spoken or chanted to produce a magical effect	"Every prompt is an incantation: the words themselves are the mechanism."
invocation	calling on a higher power by name for aid	"The API docs say `invoke the model` — an invocation in the oldest sense of the word."
conjure	to summon into existence, as if by oath or spell	"From a one-line description she conjured a full storyboard."
summon	to call forth with authority	"Name the style precisely and you summon it; gesture vaguely and nothing comes."
spell	a spoken formula with power to change things; also, to write letters in order	"The two meanings of spell were once one: to command the letters was to work the charm."
charm	a sung or spoken verse carrying magical power; the quality that delights	"The oldest charm was sung, not worn — carmen, a song."
hex	to cast a spell on; a curse	"The build pipeline failed so reliably the team spoke of it as hexed."
curse	a solemn utterance meant to bring harm upon someone	"The fairy-tale curse is a program: stated conditions, guaranteed execution."
grimoire	a manual of spells and invocations	"To the illiterate, any book of Latin was a grimoire — which is how grammar came to name one."
glamour	enchantment; bewitching allure	"Glamour began as Scots for occult learning — to cast the glamour was to deceive the eye."
rune	a letter of an ancient Germanic alphabet, credited with magical force	"Each rune was both a sound and a spell — literacy indistinguishable from power."
sigil	a symbol condensed from words and charged with intent	"The logo worked like a sigil: a paragraph of positioning compressed into one mark."
mantra	a word or phrase repeated to focus the mind	"`Ship small, ship often` became the team's mantra."
abracadabra	the archetypal magic word	"Abracadabra began as a prescription: written in a shrinking triangle and worn to cure fever."
hocus-pocus	meaningless incantation; trickery dressed as ritual	"The demo was hocus-pocus: impressive syllables, no mechanism."
open sesame	a phrase that unlocks what force cannot	"The right prompt works like open sesame: the door was always there; you lacked the words."
shibboleth	a word used to detect outsiders by how they pronounce it	"Mispronouncing the framework's name was a shibboleth that outed the pretender at once."
anathema	a formal curse of banishment; a thing utterly abhorred	"Global mutable state is anathema to the functional programmer."
malediction	a spoken curse	"He left the hearing muttering maledictions against the board."
benediction	a spoken blessing	"The keynote closed like a benediction: go and build."
gospel	teaching held as unquestionably true; originally `good news`	"Gospel is Old English god spell — the good spell — which says everything about words and belief."
true name	in myth, the secret name that grants power over its bearer	"Rumpelstiltskin, Ra, and every dragon of Earthsea fell the same way: someone learned the true name."

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