Etymology

photoexcitation

P3H4O1T1O1E1X8C3I1T1A1T1I1O1N1

Today it means: The formation of an excited state by the absorption of a photon. Full definition →

English excitation ← Ancient Greek φωτο- (phōto-) ← Proto-Hellenic *pʰáwos
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéh₂os
  3. Proto-Hellenic*pʰáwos
  4. Ancient Greekφᾰ́ος (phắos)
  5. Ancient Greekφῶς (phôs)
  6. Ancient Greekφωτο- (phōto-)
  7. Englishphoto-
  8. Englishexcitation
  9. English todayphotoexcitation

From photo- + excitation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.