photography

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /fəˈtɒɡ.rə.fi/, US /fəˈtɑː.ɡrə.fi/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English photo- + -graphy,^[2][3][4] from Greek phōs, phōtós “light” and -graphía “writing”, from gráphein “to write”.^[4] It is related to photograph.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The art or process of producing pictures by the chemical action of light: 1839 in the OED, Etymonline, MWU and the Historical Thesaurus.^[5][2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

It names both the process and the practice or business of taking photographs.^[6][7] The AHD also uses it for a body of photographs, such as the pictures in a book or film.^[7]

Timeline

• 1839 – the process of producing pictures by light.^[5][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The art, process or job of taking and printing photographs.
2. The making of images on surfaces that are sensitive to light.
3. A collection of photographs.

Word family

• multiphotography
• astrophotography
• electrophotography
• macrophotography
• stereophotography
• telephotography
• digital photography

Related words

• photographer
• photographic
• photograph
• photo-
• -graphy

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin