photo
noun
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photo
1 American
[foh-toh]
/ ˈfoʊ toʊ /
photo-
2
American
photo
1
British
/ ˈfəʊtəʊ /
noun
photo-
2
British
combining form
-
of, relating to, or produced by light
photosynthesis
-
indicating a photographic process
photolithography
photo–
Scientific
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing photo
Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: photo
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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.
See Examples For:
The official Telegram account on X posted a photo Wednesday morning of Durov giving the middle finger over a heaping plate of pickles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
In April, Herbert posted a photo of them on Instagram and captioned it, “My world!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
"Race against time" says the i Paper, next to a photo of a French firefighter standing in front of a burning row of trees and tall grass.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The detective’s Facebook friends urged her to make her post public, so she did — screenshots of Salute’s court records, her mug shot and her new school photo.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
In a report titled “Mimetic Collusion in Chromatophores” he found another photo of her.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
It is important to develop alternative methods based on photo- and electrocatalysis, taking advantage of the sustainable solar energy and abundance of omnipresent water.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2024
The photo- and video-sharing app Instagram is popular among U.S. teens, according to a Pew Research Center survey released this year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2023
In addition to the social network Facebook, Meta also owns the photo- and video-sharing platform Instagram as well as the messaging application WhatsApp.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2021
While the new contenders are young, the amount of backing they are getting shows investors believe new social apps more narrowly focused on photo- and video-sharing, where WeChat is less dominant, could pay off.
From The Verge ● Oct. 17, 2018
They studied photo- graphs and technical drawings of the Vemork plant.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
"It happened very quickly, because I was moving fast. My daughter was very hungry and she was telling me, 'Dad, stop taking photos, I've had enough,'" he said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Trump wrote on social media, alongside photos of himself with Netanyahu in the Oval Office.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Beer’s post announcing the engagement features several photos of the couple, including one of Herbert down on one knee and another of him carrying his smiling bride-to-be over his shoulder with her ring on display.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Last month, Adeyemi shared photos to her social media channel suggesting tensions between her and the film's producers.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The front was one of the photos of a younger Dr. Achebe from his presentation.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
