Ancient Greek word root · Sight & Light

phot-: light

phot- is an Ancient Greek root meaning “light”. Learn its variants and explore 6 connected words.

Meaning and variants

Meaning: light

Root forms: phot-, photo-

Source word: φώς — man, mortal

Word family and examples

• photography

  The art and technology of producing images on photosensitive surfaces, and its digital counterpart.

• photograph

  a picture made using a camera

• photographic

  Pertaining to photographs or photography.

• photon

  The quantum of light and other electromagnetic energy, regarded as a discrete particle having zero rest mass, no electric charge, and an indefinitely long lifetime. It is a gauge boson.

• photosynthesis

  the process by which plants use sunlight to synthesize food

• photometry

  The measurement of various aspects of light, especially its intensity.

Root connections help with vocabulary recall. They are not a complete etymological history, and a spelling match alone does not prove a relationship.

Explore this root in the app →