木刻是在木板上刻出反向图像，再印在纸上欣赏的一种版画艺术。

中国古代四大发明之一的印刷术是人类文明发展史上的一块重要的里程碑。它由文本印刷和图像印刷两部分组成，而图像印刷即是最初的木刻版画。

制版技术在中国的发展历史渊远流长。新石器时代时期的出土文物（譬如甲骨、陶器、玉石、青铜器）上面的文本和纹样雕刻，秦汉时期的画像石、画像砖和石碑等，都是利器在各种材料上镌刻而成。流传已久的印章艺术更是与制版流程相差无几。

印刷术的成型一般认为在唐代。宋人朱翌的《猗觉寮杂记》（下卷）便说：「雕印文本，唐以前无之，唐末益州始有墨版。」唐懿宗咸通九年（公元868年）印的“金刚般若波罗密经”（简称“金刚经”）是现存最早的木板印刷品，卷中含有不少制作精美的木刻扉页。

Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.