Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “photosynthetic” come from?

Photosynthetic comes from English synthetic, from French synthétique, from Ancient Greek σύνθεσις meaning composition and φῶς meaning light, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European som-.

photosynthetic (English): Of, relating to, or employing photosynthesis

Definitions

  1. Of, relating to, or employing photosynthesis

Ancestry of “photosynthetic”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishsyntheticOf, or relating to synthesis; Produced by...
2Frenchsynthétiquesynthetic
3Ancient Greekσυνθετικόςskilled in putting together, constructive;...
4Ancient Greekσύνθεσιςa putting together, composition, combination,...
5Ancient Greekσυντίθημιto assemble, put together
6Ancient Greekσῠν-together; with, together
7Ancient Greekσύνbeside, with
8Proto-Hellenic*ksún—

Words derived from “photosynthetic”

  • photosynthetically
  • nonphotosynthetic
Every word from Proto-Hellenic *ksún →