photograph

/ˈfəʊ.təˌɡɹɑːf/

photograph · noun — A picture created by projecting an image onto a photosensitive surface such as a chemically treated plate or film, CCD receptor, etc.

Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

photograph is pronounced /ˈfəʊ.təˌɡɹɑːf/.

Why “photograph” is a great word

A picture created by projecting an image onto a photosensitive surface such as chemically treated film or a digital sensor. From the combining form photo- (from Greek phōs, phōt-, meaning "light") + -graph (from Greek -graphos, meaning "something written or drawn"), hence "drawing with light." Coined in 1839 by English polymath Sir John Herschel. Unlike "picture" (a general visual representation) or "image" (any likeness, mental or otherwise), a photograph is an index, a chemical or digital trace left by the light itself. It is the exact, silvered shadow a person cast on a specific afternoon, the ghostly smear of a city street at dawn, the crisp, inhuman geometry of a barn under a flat sky—a moment translated by physics, not rendered by hand, and therefore haunted by the stubborn truth of its own having-been.

❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources

Etymology

From photo- + -graph.

noun

A picture created by projecting an image onto a photosensitive surface such as a chemically treated plate or film, CCD receptor, etc.e.g.“The hundredodd pages of photographs provide superb iconography of artistic collaboration and its rewards.” — 1975 May 4, Dale Harris, “Merce Cunningham”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2024:

verb

To take a photograph (of).e.g.“He makes his pen drawing on white paper, and they are afterwards photographed on wood.” — 1891, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, The Graphic Arts: A Treatise on the Varieties of Drawing:
To fix permanently in the memory etc.e.g.“He is photographed on my mind.” — 1881, Mary Anne Hardy, Through Cities and Prairie Lands:
To appear in a photograph.e.g.“She photographs well. The camera loves her.”

Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

photography 76% match — The art and technology of producing images on photosensitive surfaces, and its digital counterpart. vs photograph →
photogram 64% match — A photograph made without using a camera; normally by placing an object in contact with photosensitive paper and exposing it to light. vs photograph →
photographically 64% match — In a photographic manner. vs photograph →
photolithograph 62% match — A lithograph made by photolithography. vs photograph →
photolike 61% match — Resembling or characteristic of a photograph. vs photograph →
photographical 61% match — Photographic. vs photograph →
photographist 60% match — One who produces photographs. vs photograph →
photocollage 60% match — A form of collage made by assembling photographs. vs photograph →