Etymology

reflect

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Today it means: To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface. Full definition →

Old French reflecter ← Latin reflectō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromreflectō“to reflect”
  2. Old French · derived fromreflecter“to bend back, turn back”
  3. English todayreflect

From Old French reflecter (“to bend back, turn back”), from Latin reflectō (“to reflect”), from re- (“again”) + flectō (“to bend, to curve”). Compare English reflex.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.