television English · revision 2926

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound, borrowing|attested=1907|origins=en tele-, en vision}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈtel.ɪ.vɪʒ.ᵊn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound, [[af|en|tele-|vision]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002) or it is [[bor|fr|télévision]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) The first part comes ultimately from Greek and means “far off”; the second goes back to [[la|vidēre|t=to see]].^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ 1907, of a theoretical system for transmitting moving images over telegraph or telephone wires,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) before the invention had been perfected.^(Cresswell 2021) The OED has an example from 1904.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Other names proposed for the hypothetical technology were ''telephote'' (1880) and ''televista'' (1904).^(Etymonline) Working electronic television was developed in the 1920s and 1930s,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and John Logie Baird first demonstrated it in 1926.^(Cresswell 2021) Television as a broadcasting service or medium is from 1927,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and a television set from 1941 in Etymonline^(Etymonline) and 1955 in the OED.^(OED 1989) The editor C. P. Scott objected that the word was half Greek and half Latin.^(Cresswell 2021) The abbreviation ''TV'' is from 1948, and ''tee-vee'' by 1949.^(Etymonline) German calqued the word as Fernsehen.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1904 – first OED example.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1907 – a system for transmitting images.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1926 – Baird's demonstration.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1927 – television as a medium.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1941 – a television set.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1948 – ''TV''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The system of transmitting images and sound by [[radio]] waves or cable and reproducing them on a screen.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A television set.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Television broadcasting as a medium or industry; programmes collectively.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[televisionally]]

+ * [[cablevision]]

+ * [[pretelevision]]

+ * [[televangelist]]

+ * [[TV]]

+ * [[cable television]]

+ * [[closed-circuit television]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[televise]]

+ * [[televisual]]

+ * [[telephone]]

+ * [[telegraph]]

+ * [[vision]]

+ * [[video]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}