Etymologically
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télévision

Etymology and origin of the French word télévision

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1900, Perskyi
Ultimate origin
French (télé-,vision)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French télévision
English television

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /te.le.vi.zjɔ̃/[1]

Forms

télévision f (plural télévisions)[1]

Etymology

It is from French télé- + vision, a learned compound meaning “seeing at a distance”.[2][1][3][4] Wiktionary credits Constantin Perskyi with its first use, in a paper read to the International Electricity Congress at the Paris World Fair on 25 August 1900.[1][5] English television (1907) is either formed in English or borrowed from French,[6] and German had a similar formation in 1909;[2][3] the TLFi and the GLLF treat the French word as borrowed from English.[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Perskyi's 1900 paper, Télévision au moyen de l'électricité, used it of a system for transmitting images at a distance.[1][5]

Semantic evolution

In 1908 it named the transmission of images by electric waves (Monier), and the word télé-optique (1892) had preceded it.[5][2] It was a purely scientific term until the experiments of about 1925–1930, when René Barthélemy called broadcasting to the public radiovision (1930);[3][5][2] it came into common use after 1945, with the spread of the medium.[2][8]

By metonymy it named the whole of broadcasting activity and, from 1952, the receiving set, in competition with téléviseur (1930) and the familiar télé (about 1952) and téloche (1967).[5][2] The adjective télévisé (1929) is in common use (journal télévisé).[2]

Timeline

  • 1892 – Télé-optique.[2]
  • 1900 – Télévision in Perskyi's paper.[1]
  • 1907 – English television.[6]
  • 1908 – Image transmission by electric waves.[5]
  • 1929 – Télévisé.[2]
  • 1935 – Broadcasting to receivers in homes.[5]
  • 1952 – The receiving set; the clipping télé.[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Television, the transmission of moving images and sound: télévision numérique, télévision par câble.[8][9]
  2. Television broadcasting; the organisations and services that provide it.[9][2]
  3. A television set.[5][2]

Word family

  • télé
  • téléviseur
  • télévisé
  • télévisuel

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 123a
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Télévision.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/t%C3%A9l%C3%A9vision. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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