fluorescence

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US/flʊˈɹɛsəns/US/flɔ-/US/floʊ-/

noun

The emission of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by a material when stimulated by the absorption of radiation or of a subatomic particle.

OriginEnglish fluorspar ← Middle English sparston ← Old English spærstān →
Less commonScrabble 19
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Meanings

nounfluorescence (countable and uncountable, plural fluorescences)

plural fluorescences

  1. countableuncountablenatural sciencesThe emission of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by a material when stimulated by the absorption of radiation or of a subatomic particle.
    1 more example

    A multi-institution US research team has combined some creative chemistry, fluorescence microscopy and laser-driven microballistics to gain a clearer view of just what happens in a high-strain-rate impact, and to tease out the relative contribution of different kinds of energy dissipation within the target (Nat. Commun., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52663-1).

    2024 October 7, Stewart Wills, “A Deeper View of High-Speed Impacts”, in Optics & Photonics News
  2. countableuncountableThe light so emitted.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰel-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰlewH-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*bʰluH-yé-ti?
  4. Latinfluō
  5. Latinfluor
  6. Englishfluor
  7. Englishfluorite
  8. Middle Low Germanspar
  9. Old Englishspærstān
  10. Middle Englishsparston
  11. Englishsparstonebf.
  12. Englishspar
  13. Englishfluorspar
  14. Englishfluorescence

Coined by British physicist George Stokes in 1852 from fluorspar + -escence.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans fluoresensie
  • fluoresensieemission of light
Basque fluoreszentzia
  • fluoreszentziaemission of light
Catalan fluorescència
  • fluorescènciaemission of light
Chinese Cantonese 熒光 /荧光
  • 熒光 /荧光 (jing⁴ gwong¹)emission of light
Chinese Mandarin 熒光 /荧光
  • 熒光 /荧光 (yíngguāng)emission of light
Esperanto fluoresko
  • fluoreskoemission of light
Finnish fluoresenssi
  • fluoresenssiemission of light
French fluorescence
  • fluorescenceemission of light
German Fluoreszenz
  • Fluoreszenzemission of light
Greek φθορισμός
  • φθορισμός (fthorismós)emission of light
Hindi प्रतिदीप्ति
  • प्रतिदीप्ति (pratidīpti)emission of light
Indonesian fluoresen
  • fluoresenemission of light
Japanese 蛍光
  • 蛍光 (keikō)emission of light
Korean 형광
  • 형광 (hyeonggwang)emission of light
Malay pendarfluor
  • pendarfluoremission of light
Portuguese fluorescência
  • fluorescênciaemission of light
Spanish fluorescencia
  • fluorescenciaemission of light
Vietnamese huỳnh quang
  • huỳnh quangemission of light

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

florescencein some pronunciations
Cite this entry
APA

fluorescence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fluorescence

MLA

“fluorescence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fluorescence. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fluorescence,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fluorescence.

Source: fluorescence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.