Etymology
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photograph (n.)

"a picture obtained by any process of photography," 1839, coined by English polymath and photography pioneer Sir John Herschel (son of the astronomer) from photo- "light" + -graph "something written."

It won out over other suggestions, such as photogene and heliograph. Photogram (1859), based on telegram, did not catch on. Neo-Anglo-Saxonists prefer sunprint; and sun-picture (1846) was an early Englishing of the word. The verb is first found (along with photography and photographic) in a paper Herschel read before the Royal Society on March 14, 1839. Related: Photographed; photographing.

Entries linking to photograph

photo- 

word-forming element meaning "light" or "photographic" or "photoelectric," from Greek photo-, combining form of phōs (genitive phōtos) "light" (from PIE root *bha- (1) "to shine").

-graph 

modern word-forming element meaning "instrument for recording; that which writes, marks, or describes; something written," from Greek -graphos "-writing, -writer" (as in autographos "written with one's own hand"), from graphe "writing, the art of writing, a writing," from graphein "to write, express by written characters," earlier "to draw, represent by lines drawn" (see -graphy). Adopted widely (Dutch -graaf, German -graph, French -graphe, Spanish -grafo). Related: -grapher; -graphic; -graphical.

updated on May 27, 2020

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Dictionary entries near photograph

photochemical

photocopier

photocopy

photo-electric

photogenic

photograph

photographer

photographic

photography

photogravure

photoinduction

© 2001-2023 Douglas Harper