Etymology

photovoltaic

P3H4O1T1O1V4O1L1T1A1I1C3

Today it means: Producing a voltage when exposed to light. Full definition →

English voltaic ← Italian Volta ← Ancient Greek φωτο- (phōto-)
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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. ItalianVolta
  9. EnglishVolta
  10. Englishvoltaic
  11. English todayphotovoltaic

From photo- + voltaic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.