Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

photo-

/foʊtoʊ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.97 in modern English

Syllables
pho-to-
IPA
/foʊtoʊ/
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
3
Syllables
4
Unique Chars

Meaning

prefix

light, electromagnetic radiation

prefix

photography

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂os Proto-Hellenic *pʰáwos Ancient Greek φᾰ́ος (phắos) Ancient Greek φῶς (phôs) Ancient Greek φωτο- (phōto-)der. English photo- From Ancient Greek φωτο- (phōto-), the combining form of φῶς (phôs, “light”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /foʊtoʊ/

Inflected Forms

phot- (alternative)

Derived Forms

photo photoabsorption photoacoustic photoacoustics photoactive photoaddition photoaffinity photoaging photoalidade photoallergy photoautotroph photoautotrophic

Phrases

photo-realism

Questions

How do you pronounce photo-?
The recorded pronunciation is /foʊtoʊ/.
What does photo- mean?
light, electromagnetic radiation
Where does photo- come from?
It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce photo-

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “photo-”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/foʊtoʊ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “photo-”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “photo-” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.