Wordwyrt

telephoto

/ˈteləˌfəʊtəʊ/TEH-luh-foh-toh
/ˈtɛləˌfoʊtoʊ/TEH-luh-foh-toh

Meaningfar-off light

Common meaning: a lens for photographing distant things

‘far off’ + ‘light’ → telephoto

Journey through time

  1. Greekτῆλε (têle)‘far off’
  2. Englishtelephoto‘a lens for photographing distant things’ · today

tele also in: telegramtelegraphtelepathytelephonetelescope

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle) ‘far off’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry τῆλε (têle), p. 804 · dictionary scan

Roots

Related words

telegramtelegraphtelepathytelephonetelescopetelevision

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app