Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “photovoltaics” come from?

photovoltaics (English) comes from English photovoltaic, from English Voltaic, from English -ic, from English image, from French image, from Portuguese imagem, from Spanish imagen, from Italian immagine — in.

photovoltaics (English): The technology of the conversion of sunlight into...

Definitions

  1. The technology of the conversion of sunlight into...

Ancestry of “photovoltaics”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishphotovoltaicProducing a voltage when exposed to light
2EnglishVoltaicOf or pertaining to Alessandro Volta or his work;...
3English-icUsed to form adjectives from nouns with the...
4EnglishimageAn optical or other representation of a real...
5Frenchimagepicture, image; frame; first-person singular...
6Portugueseimagemimage; picture; figure; image; image; face
7Spanishimagenimage
8Italianimmagineimage; imago
9Latinimāginem—
10Latinim-Alternative form of in-; form of "in"; in
11Latinīn-—
12Latinîn—
13Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
14Proto-Italicenin
15Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →