Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “photogenic” come from?

Photogenic comes from French -gène, Ancient Greek φῶς meaning light and γένος meaning race or kind, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ǵénh₁os meaning to produce or beget.

photogenic (English): Generated or caused by light; Producing or...

Definitions

  1. Generated or caused by light; Producing or...

Ancestry of “photogenic”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishgenicof, relating to, produced by, or being a gene
2English-icUsed to form adjectives from nouns with the...
3EnglishimageAn optical or other representation of a real...
4Frenchimagepicture, image; frame; first-person singular...
5Portugueseimagemimage; picture; figure; image; image; face
6Spanishimagenimage
7Italianimmagineimage; imago
8Latinimāginem—
9Latinim-Alternative form of in-; form of "in"; in
10Latinīn-—
11Latinîn—
12Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
13Proto-Italicenin
14Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “photogenic”

  • photogenically
  • unphotogenic
  • photogenicity
  • photogenicism
  • fotogénico
  • fotogenico
  • fotogenia
  • fotogenicità
  • photogénique
  • Fotogenität
  • fotogen
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →