photographic English · revision 39739

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1839, C. Wheatstone, letter to W. H. F. Talbot}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˌfəʊtəˈɡɹæfɪk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed in English from [[photo-]] and [[-graphic]],^(OED 2026) after [[m|fr|photographie]] or English [[photography]];^(OED 2026) other dictionaries derive it from [[photograph]] with the suffix [[-ic]].^(Etymonline)^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(SOED 2002) 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,^(OED 2026) and that the French adjective [[m|fr|photographique]] in this sense appears only in May 1839.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Relating to, used in or produced by photography: 1839, in a letter of Charles Wheatstone to William Henry Fox Talbot.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==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.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) ''Photographic memory'', a memory that keeps images in precise detail, is recorded from 1865.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1839 – relating to photography.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1855 – minutely accurate, like a photograph.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1865 – ''photographic memory''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Relating to, used in or produced by [[photography]]: ''photographic film''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # As exact and detailed as a [[photograph]]: ''the painter's photographic realism''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Of [[memory]], able to keep facts or images in precise detail after a short view.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[photographically]]

+ * [[nonphotographic]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[photograph]]

+ * [[photography]]

+ * [[graphic]]

+ * [[phosphorus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}