fluorescence

Etymology

It was coined in 1852 by the British mathematician and physicist G. G. Stokes,^[2][3][4][5] formed from English fluor + -escence,^[2][6][7] from fluorspar, the mineral in which he first noticed the effect,^[3][4][8][9] on the pattern of opalescence;^{[5][9][4][10]} Etymonline names phosphorescence as the model.^[3] The mineral name is from Latin fluor (“a flowing, flow”), from fluō (“to flow”),^[3][5] applied since 1771 to minerals containing fluorine, especially fluorspar.^[3] The English word passed into German Fluorescenz, now Fluoreszenz, by 1854, and into French fluorescence by 1856.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The luminosity some substances show when lit, especially by ultraviolet light: 1852, in a paper by G. G. Stokes in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.^[5][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective fluorescent followed in 1853,^[2] and the verb fluoresce slightly later.^[5] The sense has widened from light under ultraviolet rays to radiation given off by a substance exposed to X-rays, electrons or other particles.^[8][6] Physicists distinguish it as the emission that stops as soon as the exciting radiation stops.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1852 – coined by Stokes for the glow of fluorspar and other substances under light.^[5][2][3]
• 1853 – fluorescent.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The giving off of light or other radiation by a substance while it absorbs radiation from another source, especially ultraviolet light, ceasing when the source is removed.^[6][7][8]
2. The property of giving off such light.^[7][8]
3. The light or radiation so given off.^[7][6]

Word family

• fluoresce
• fluorescein
• fluorescent
• immunofluorescence
• nonfluorescence

Related words

• fluorine
• fluorite
• fluor
• fluent
• flux
• phosphorescence

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House