holographic

Etymology

It is formed from English holograph + -ic,^[2][3][4] and in the physics sense from holography.^[2][4][3] The base comes from French holographe or Late Latin holographus,^[2][5] from Ancient Greek ὁλόγραφος (hológraphos, “written entirely by the same hand”),^[2][3] from ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and -γραφος (-graphos, “written”).^[2][3] Etymonline traces the first element to Proto-Indo-European *sol- (“whole, well-kept”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a deed, letter or document, written wholly in the hand of its author: 1728, in Chambers's Cyclopædia.^[2] The 1989 edition of the OED dated it 1727–41,^[6] and Etymonline gives 1743.^[3]

Semantic evolution

For two centuries the word belonged to law and documents, as in holographic will;^[2][7] the related form holographical is recorded even earlier, from 1656.^[6] The physics sense came with holography in 1964: the OED's first record is in Physics Letters that year,^[2][3] and Etymonline calls the modern use of holograph a 1960s back-formation from holography.^[3] From 1988 the word was also used of surfaces that shimmer with rainbow colours which change with the angle of view, first in D. J. Schow's Kill Riff.^[2]

Timeline

• 1728 – of a document, written wholly in the author's hand.^[2]
• 1964 – relating to or produced by holography.^[2][3]
• 1988 – shimmering and iridescent, with colours that change with the angle of view.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to, produced by or using holography or holograms; three-dimensional in this way: a holographic seal on the ticket.^[7][8][2]
2. Of a document, written entirely in the hand of the person who signs it; holograph: a holographic will.^[7][2][4]
3. Having a shimmering, iridescent look whose colours change with the angle of view.^[2]

Word family

• holographically
• holographic will

Related words

• holography
• holograph
• hologram
• holistic
• -graphy

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins