Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “reflectance” come from?

Reflectance derives from French -ance, Latin -antia (a suffix forming nouns of quality or state), combined with Latin re- (back) and Proto-Italic wre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European wert- and wer- (to turn).

reflectance (English): The ratio of the flux reflected to that incident...

Definitions

  1. The ratio of the flux reflected to that incident...

Ancestry of “reflectance”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishreflectTo bend back from a surface; To be bent back ...
2Old Frenchreflecter—
3Latinreflectō—
4Latinrĕ-—
5Latinprōdūcō—
6Latinprō-—
7Proto-Italic*pro-—
8Proto-Indo-Europeanpro-toward, forward
9Proto-Indo-Europeanpor-to give birth; forward, through; going, passage
10Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
11Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “reflectance”

  • photoreflectance
  • thermoreflectance
  • bireflectance
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →