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photographic

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Etymology and origin of the English word photographic

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1839, C. Wheatstone, letter to W. H. F. Talbot

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌfəʊtəˈɡɹæfɪk/[1]

Etymology

It was formed in English from photo- and -graphic,[2] after photographie or English photography;[2] other dictionaries derive it from photograph with the suffix -ic.[3][4][5] The OED notes that Charles Wheatstone's use of the adjective in a letter of February 1839 slightly predates John Herschel's first use of the nouns for the art and the picture in March of that year,[2] and that the French adjective photographique in this sense appears only in May 1839.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to, used in or produced by photography: 1839, in a letter of Charles Wheatstone to William Henry Fox Talbot.[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Because photographs were seen as exact copies of what was before the lens, the word soon came to mean minutely accurate or mechanically imitative, in 1855 in the OED and by 1864 in Etymonline.[2][3] Photographic memory, a memory that keeps images in precise detail, is recorded from 1865.[3][5]

Timeline

  • 1839 – relating to photography.[2][6]
  • 1855 – minutely accurate, like a photograph.[2]
  • 1865 – photographic memory.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Relating to, used in or produced by photography: photographic film.
  2. As exact and detailed as a photograph: the painter's photographic realism.
  3. Of memory, able to keep facts or images in precise detail after a short view.

Word family

  • photographically
  • nonphotographic

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Photographic.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/photographic. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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