Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Stereo
/ˈstɛrioʊ/noun
Sound reproduction using two or more channels to give a sense of space.
The Greek roots
στερεός
stereós
solid, firm
Literally: “solid”
Follow a root:στερεός8 words
The story of the word
στερεός means solid in the sense of having three dimensions, which is why Charles Wheatstone named his 1838 stereoscope from it: two flat pictures, one per eye, adding up to depth. Stereophonic applies the same trick to hearing. Stereotype came out of the printing trade, where it was a solid cast plate of a whole page, long before it meant a fixed idea about people.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
stereoscopestereotypecholesterol
In a sentence
The stereo in that car is worth more than the car.