Kinetoscope
/kɪˈnɛtəˌskoʊp/noun
An early motion-picture viewing device that showed moving images through a peephole.
Did you know?Its first element comes from Greek kīnētós, “moving,” from the same root behind words like kinesiology and kinetic, while the second comes from skopein, “to look,” the ancient source of countless “seeing” words.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
kīnētós
“moved; set in motion”
Ancient Greek
Greek
skopein
“to look at; examine”
Late 19th Century
English
kinetoscope
“a device for viewing moving pictures through a peephole”
1891
English
kinetoscope
“used by Thomas Edison’s laboratory for the early motion-picture viewer”
Modern English
English
kinetoscope
“an early motion-picture viewing device”
Explore more surprising origins