Etymology

photofission

P3H4O1T1O1F4I1S1S1I1O1N1

Today it means: Nuclear fission as the result of the absorption of a gamma ray or other high-energy photon. Full definition →

English fission ← 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. Englishfission
  9. English todayphotofission

From photo- + fission.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.