television (English)

Where does "television" come from?

The word television is a modern invention, first coined by Constantin Perskyi in 1900 by combining the Greek prefix tele-, meaning 'far off,' with the Latin-derived noun vision. The root of vision traces back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European *weyd-, meaning 'to see' or 'to know.' This etymological journey reflects the technology’s original purpose: to bring visual information to viewers from across great distances.

Full etymology tree

• television (English), 'An electronic communication medium that allows the transmission of real-time visual images, and often sound.'
  • compound tele- (English), 'over a distance'
  • compound vision (English), 'The sense or ability of sight.'
    • inherited visioun (Middle English), 'A vision; an illusory image, apparition or mirage.'
      • learned borrowing visioun (Anglo-Norman)
        • inherited vīsiō (Latin), 'seeing, sight, vision, view'
          • derived vīsus (Latin), 'having been seen'
            • inherited *weissus (Proto-Italic)
              • inherited *weyd- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to see'
            • inherited videō (Latin), 'to see, perceive; look (at)'
              • inherited *widēō (Proto-Italic), 'to see'
                • inherited *weyd- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to see'
          • affix -iō (Latin), 'Used to form abstract nouns from verbs.'
  • influence télévision (French), 'television'

Direct ancestors

• weyd- (Proto-Indo-European)
• tele- (English)
• vision (English)
• télévision (French)

Updated July 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris