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lens

Etymology and origin of the English word lens

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1693
Ultimate origin
Latin (lens)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /lɛnz/[1]

Etymology

It is New Latin, from Latin lens (“lentil”) (genitive lentis) (see lentil),[2][3][4][5] so called from its double-convex shape.[3][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A shaped piece of glass for focusing light: 1693 in the OED and Barnhart, the 1690s in Etymonline;[7][2][3] MWU dates it to 1673.[5]

Semantic evolution

The lens of the eye is from 1719, as is one facet of a compound eye.[3][7] A lens used in photography is from 1841.[7] In geology, a body of ore or rock shaped like a lens is from 1903.[7] A contact lens and a lens of spectacles are later uses.[7][8] The verb, to film, is from 1921.[5]

Timeline

  • 1693 – a glass lens.[7][2]
  • 1719 – the lens of the eye.[3]
  • 1841 – a camera lens.[7]
  • 1903 – in geology.[7]
  • 1921 – to film (verb).[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A piece of glass or other transparent material with curved surfaces, used to focus or spread rays of light, as in spectacles or a camera.
  2. The transparent part of the eye behind the iris that focuses light on the retina.
  3. A contact lens.

Word family

  • lensed
  • lensless
  • lenslike
  • lenticel
  • lenticular
  • lenticule
  • lentil
  • lensman
  • contact lens

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Lens.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/lens. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·