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Where does the word "photo" come from? It comes from Greek phōs, and was adopted directly into English (1860).
Read the full story
Where does the word "photo" come from? It comes from Greek phōs, and was adopted directly into English (1860).
Photo’s story begins in Greek: phōs meant “light.” Greek, genitive 'phōtos'. It reached English by 1860 as photo. Short for 'photograph', coined by John Herschel in 1839. Today, photo means a photograph.
- Stage 1 · Greek · ancient phōs "light", Greek, genitive 'phōtos'.
- Stage 2 · English · 1860 photo "photograph", short for 'photograph', coined by John Herschel in 1839.