daguerreotype
UK: dəˈɡer.ə.taɪp | US: dəˈɡɛr.ə.taɪp
n. an early photographic process invented by Louis Daguerre, producing images on silvered copper plates
n. a photograph produced by the daguerreotype process
The word combines the surname of French inventor Louis Daguerre (1787–1851) with the Greek-derived suffix "-type" (from "typos," meaning "impression" or "model"). The term was coined in 1839 to describe his groundbreaking photographic method, which captured images on light-sensitive silvered plates. The "-o-" serves as a euphonic connector, common in scientific and technical neologisms.
The museum displayed a rare daguerreotype of a 19th-century cityscape.
Daguerreotypes require careful preservation due to their delicate silver surfaces.
Early photographers admired the daguerreotype for its remarkable detail.
The portrait, a daguerreotype from 1845, showed a stern-faced gentleman.
Modern historians study daguerreotypes to understand Victorian-era aesthetics.