view | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

243 entries found.

1520s, "inspect, examine," from view (n.). From 1765 as "to regard in a certain way;" from 1935 as "to watch television." Related: Viewed; viewing.

view (n.)

early 15c., "formal inspection or survey" (of land); mid-15c., "visual perception," from Anglo-French vewe "view," Old French veue "light, brightness; look, appearance; eyesight, vision," noun use of fem. past participle of veoir "to see," from Latin videre "to see" (from PIE root *weid- "to see"). Sense of "manner of regarding something" attested from early 15c. Meaning "sight or prospect of a landscape, etc." is recorded from c. 1600.

re-view (n.)

"a second or repeated viewing," 1660s, from re- "again" + view (n.). With hyphenated spelling and full pronunciation of the prefix to distinguish it from review.

vue

French, literally "view, sight; aspect, appearance; vision" (see view (n.)).

worldview (n.)

also world-view, 1858, from world + view (n.); translating German weltanschauung.

viewpoint (n.)

1856, of mental positions; 1858 in a physical sense, from view + point (n.).

viewer (n.)

early 15c., "civic official responsible for surveying property," agent noun from view (v.). Meaning "watcher of television" first recorded 1935, in place of earlier suggestion looker-in (1927).

viewing (n.)

1540s, "inspection," verbal noun from view (v.). From 1944 as "last presentation of a dead body before the funeral" (earlier viewing (of) the remains, 1920); from 1959 as "the watching of television."

preview (v.)

c. 1600, "to see beforehand," from pre- "before" + view (v.). Marked "rare" in Century Dictionary (1895). The meaning "to show (a film, etc.) before its public opening" is from 1928. Related: Previewed; previewing.

point of view (n.)

"position from which a thing is or is supposed to be viewed," 1727, translating French point de vue, a loan-translation of Latin punctum visus. Figurative use "state of mind, predisposition (conscious or not)" is from 1760. The Latin phrase was translated into German as Gesichtspunkt.

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