- photo
- 1860, shortening of photograph. The verb is first recorded 1868, from the noun. Photo finish is attested from 1936. Photo opportunity first recorded 1974.
- photo-
- comb. form meaning "light" or "photographic," from Gk. photo-, comb. form of phos (gen. photos) "light," from PIE base *bha- "to shine" (see phantasm).
- photon
- "unit of electromagnetic radiation," 1926, from photo- "light" + on "unit."
- photosynthesis
- 1898, loan-translation of Ger. Photosynthese, from photo- "light" + synthese "synthesis." Another early word for it was photosyntax.
- photogenic
- 1839, "produced or caused by light," from photo- + -genic "produced by" (see genus). Originally in photogenic drawing, the early term for "photography;" meaning "photographing well" is first attested 1928.
- photocopy (v.)
- 1924 in the sense of "make a photographic reproduction," from photo- "light" + copy (q.v.). The usual modern meaning arose 1942 with the advent of xerography. The noun is recorded from 1934. Photostat (1911) was a type of copying machine (trademark Commercial Camera Company, Providence, R.I.) whose name became a generic noun and verb (1914) for "photocopy."
- photograph (n.)
- 1839, "picture obtained by photography," coined by Sir John Herschel from photo- + -graph "instrument for recording." It won out over other suggestions, such as photogene and heliograph. Neo-Anglo-Saxonists prefer sunprint. The verb and photography also are first attested 1839, all from a paper read before the Royal Society on March 14, 1839.
- rotogravure
- 1913, from Ger. Rotogravur (originally, in full, Deutsche Tiefdrück Gesellschaft), said to blend two corporate names, Rotophot and Deutsche Photogravur A.G. Etymologically, the roots are L. rota "wheel, roller" and Fr. gravure "engraving." The process was used for printing photo sections of newpapers and magazines, so that the word came to be used for these.
- still (adj.)
- O.E. stille "motionless, stationary," from W.Gmc. *steljaz (cf. O.Fris., M.L.G., M.Du. stille, Du. stil, O.H.G. stilli, Ger. still), from root *stel- "fixed, not moving, standing" (see stall (1)). Meaning "quiet, silent" emerged in later O.E.; noun meaning "quietness, the silent part" first attested c.1600, in still of the night. The adverbial sense of "even now, even then, yet" (still standing there) is first recorded 1530s, from notion of "without change or cessation" (late 13c.); the sense of "even, yet" (e.g. still more) is from 1730. Used as a conjunction from 1722. Meaning "ordinary photo" (as distinguished from a motion picture) is attested from 1916. Euphemistic for "dead" in stillborn (1590s). Still-life is from 1690s, translating Du. stilleven.