reflector

Etymology

It is formed from English reflect + -or,^[2][3][4] an agent noun in Latin form;^[5] the OED compares reflecter, a spelling Etymonline calls less correct.^[2][5] The verb comes from Old French reflecter and directly from Latin reflectō (“to bend back”), formed from re- (“back”) and flectō (“to bend”).^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who thinks deeply about something: 1665, in Robert Boyle's Occasional Reflections.^[2][3][7] Etymonline gives the 1660s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the two senses of reflect, to think and to throw back light.^[2] The thinking reflector is now rare;^[8] a reflector in the sense of a critic who casts aspersions lasted only from 1681 to 1688 in the OED's record.^[2][9] Johnson (1755) knew only the sense "considerer", with Boyle's example.^[7] The physical sense took over in the 18th century: a reflecting telescope from 1735, any surface that reflects light, heat or sound from 1749, and a curved mirror designed to direct light or heat from 1777.^[2][9] Etymonline dates the telescope to 1767 and the surface or apparatus to 1797.^[5] The red disc on the back of a vehicle or beside a road is recorded from 1909,^[2][5] and in radio a reflector is a part of an aerial that strengthens the forward radiation.^[10]

Timeline

• 1665 – a person who reflects or meditates.^[2][3]
• 1681 – a critic, one who casts reflections (obsolete by 1688).^[2][3]
• 1735 – a reflecting telescope.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1767.^[5]
• 1749 – an object or surface that reflects light, heat or sound.^[2][9]
• 1767 – figurative, something that faithfully reproduces or represents something else.^[2]
• 1777 – a curved mirror or surface designed to direct light or heat.^[2][9]
• 1909 – a reflective disc on a vehicle or by a road.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A surface or object that reflects light, heat, sound or other radiation, especially a curved one that directs it: the reflector of a car headlamp.^{[10][11][3][2]}
2. A small red or translucent disc or strip on a vehicle or beside a road that shows up by reflecting the light of headlamps.^[10][2]
3. A reflecting telescope.^[10][11][2]
4. A part of an aerial that increases its forward radiation and reduces its backward radiation.^[10]
5. A person or thing that reflects.^[10][2]
6. (obsolete) A critic who casts reflections on others.^[3][2][8]

Word family

• nonreflector
• reflectorize
• retroreflector

Related words

• reflect
• reflection
• reflex
• refractor
• flexible

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt