Where does “photovoltaic” come from?
Photovoltaic derives from English photo- combined with voltaic, which comes from French Volta via the suffix -ique, from Latin -icus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -kos and Latin volvo meaning to roll.
photovoltaic (English): Producing a voltage when exposed to light
Definitions
- Producing a voltage when exposed to light
Ancestry of “photovoltaic”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Voltaic | Of or pertaining to Alessandro Volta or his work;... |
| 2 | English | -ic | Used to form adjectives from nouns with the... |
| 3 | English | image | An optical or other representation of a real... |
| 4 | French | image | picture, image; frame; first-person singular... |
| 5 | Portuguese | imagem | image; picture; figure; image; image; face |
| 6 | Spanish | imagen | image |
| 7 | Italian | immagine | image; imago |
| 8 | Latin | imāginem | — |
| 9 | Latin | im- | Alternative form of in-; form of "in"; in |
| 10 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 11 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 12 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 13 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |