fluorescence
/flʊˈɹɛsəns/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.24 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The emission of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by a material when stimulated by the absorption of radiation or of a subatomic particle.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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)."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰlewH-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti? Latin fluō Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *-ōs Proto-Italic *-ōs Latin -or Latin fluorbor. English fluor Proto-Indo-European *-tósder. Ancient Greek -της (-tēs)der. Ancient Greek -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs)der. Latin -ītēslbor. French -iteder. English -ite English fluorite Middle Low German sparder. Old English spærstān Middle English sparston English sparstonebf. English spar blend English fluorspar Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-sḱéti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁sḱeti Proto-Italic *-ēskō Latin -ēscō Latin -escensder. English -escence English fluorescence Coined by British physicist George Stokes in 1852 from fluorspar + -escence.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /flʊˈɹɛsəns/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Homonyms
florescence
in some pronunciations