Film
/fɪlm/noun
A thin flexible strip or sheet, especially one coated with light-sensitive material for photography or motion pictures.
Did you know?The word’s older sense is about a thin membrane or skin, and that physical image later became the basis for photographic film because the light-sensitive layer was so thin.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pel-
“to spread, cover, or skin over”
Old English
OE
film
“a membrane, pellicle, or thin skin”
Middle English
ME
filme
“a thin skin, membrane, or covering”
19th Century
English
film
“a thin sheet of photographic material”
20th Century
English
film
“motion-picture material; a movie”