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cinematography

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Etymology and origin of the English word cinematography

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1896 Windsor Magazine
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek κίνημα

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌsɪn.ə.məˈtɒɡ.ɹə.fiː/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English cinematograph + -y,[2][3][4] on the model of photograph and photography.[4] The OED compares kinematography.[2] Cinematograph is from French cinématographe (1893),[2] coined by the Lumière brothers,[4] from Ancient Greek κίνημα (kínēma, “movement”) and -graphe.[2][4] The Greek noun is from κινέω (kīnéō, “to move”), from Proto-Indo-European *kī-.[4] French cinématographie is first recorded in 1898.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The process or art of making films with a cinematograph or a similar camera: 1896, in the Windsor Magazine.[2][3] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1897.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

At first the word named the whole new technique of recording moving pictures, a sense the OED now marks as historical.[2] From 1920 it came to mean the art of camerawork within filmmaking, or the visual style of a film or of a particular cinematographer.[2] The base word cinematograph has meanwhile been displaced by its short form, cinema.[3]

Timeline

  • 1893 – French cinématographe.[2]
  • 1896 – the making of films with a cinematograph.[2][3]
  • 1920 – the art of camerawork in filmmaking; a film's visual style.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The art or technique of motion-picture photography; the camerawork and lighting of a film: The film's cinematography won an award.[5][6][2]
  2. (historical) The making of films with a cinematograph.[2][7]

Word family

  • cinematographic
  • cinematographically
  • cinematographer

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cinematography.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/cinematography. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·