photogenic
photogenic Lexical Profile
photogenic Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Looking attractive, appealing, or favorable in photographs or on film (used of a person, animal, or scene).
"The golden retriever was remarkably photogenic, sitting patiently while the family took holiday portraits."
Producing or emitting light, or caused by the action of light (especially in biology and physics).
"Marine biologists examined the photogenic organs along the underside of the deep-sea lanternfish."
• Rhymes for photogenic
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the early 19th century by pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot to describe early photographic drawings produced by light, the word derives from the Greek elements phōs ('light') and -genēs ('born of' or 'produced by'). Its modern sense of looking attractive in photographs emerged in the 1920s via the French film industry term photogénique.