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  • photo
    photo
    noun
    photograph.
  • photo-
    photo-
    a combining form meaning “light” (photobiology ); also used to represent “photographic” or “photograph” in the formation of compound words.
  • photo–
    photo–
    A prefix that means “light,” as in photoreceptor.
Synonyms

photo

1 American  
[foh-toh] / ˈfoʊ toʊ /

noun

plural

photos

  1. photograph.

  2. Informal. photo finish.

photo- 2 American  

  1. a combining form meaning “light” (photobiology ); also used to represent “photographic” or “photograph” in the formation of compound words.

    photocopy.
photo- 1 British  

combining form

  1. of, relating to, or produced by light

    photosynthesis

  2. indicating a photographic process

    photolithography
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
photo 2 British  
/ ˈfəʊtəʊ /

noun

  1. short for photograph

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
photo– Scientific  

  1. A prefix that means “light,” as in photoreceptor.

Etymology

Origin of photo1

First recorded in 1855–60; shortened form of photograph

Origin of photo-2

< Greek, combining form of phôs (genitive phōtós )

Explanation

Snap a picture with your camera and you get a photo, a recorded image made using light. To get a passport, driver's license, or school I.D., you need to have your photo taken. The word photo is short for photograph, a word whose Greek roots mean "written in light." It only took about 20 years after the invention of photographs for people to start using the colloquial (and quicker) photo. If you haven't visited a photo booth with your best friend, you really should; you'll leave with a strip of wonderfully silly photos of the two of you.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing photo

Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: photo

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Words to Know and Academic Words, Unit 3

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A picture of an Ecuadoran family separated when US immigration agents arrested the father following a court hearing won the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year Award on Thursday.

From Barron's • Apr. 23, 2026

Photo and video images in local media showed one car rolling around in muddy waters as it was carried along the Wye River southwest of Melbourne.

From Barron's • Jan. 16, 2026

Photo powerhouses Getty Images and Shutterstock agree to merge into one visual-content company with an enterprise value of about $3.7 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025

Ms Clarke and Mr Lovell-Davis had both been in Dublin for an exhibition at the Photo Museum Ireland when they came across the group of fans in the city centre.

From BBC • Oct. 13, 2025

I don't know why Photo Drive-Up enjoyed torturing their customers, but they made you take your passport photo out in the open—so that anyone perusing the new-releases aisle could watch.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.