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Lens

2 stages from Latin to English.

Today it means a curved piece of transparent material used to focus or diverge light
1
Stage 1 of 2
lens
Latin · ancient
"a lentil"
literally a lentil, since early ground-glass optical lenses resembled the flattened seed's shape
2
Stage 2 of 2
lens
English · 1690s
"a curved piece of glass used to focus light"
adopted directly for the curved optical glass
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