Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.
| achromatic | free from colour; transmitting light without decomposing it into its constituent colours. |
| achromatically | (Adv.) ACHROMATIC, free from colour. |
| anaclastic | refractive; of or pertaining to refraction. |
| anticathode | the target of an X-ray tube, on which the cathode rays are focused and from which X-rays are emitted. |
| aplanatic | of a lens, free of spherical aberration. |
| aplanatically | (Adv.) APLANATIC, of a lens, free of spherical aberration. |
| aplanatism | freedom from spherical aberration. |
| apochromat | an apochromatic lens or instrument. |
| bathochrome | a shift to a longer wavelength in the absorption spectrum of a compound. |
| bathochromic | denoting or relating to a shift to a longer wavelength in the absorption spectrum of a compound. |
| bifocal | having two focal points. |
| biprism | a prism having a highly obtuse angle to facilitate beam splitting. |
| birefringence | the refraction of light in an anisotropic material (as calcite) in two slightly different directions to form two rays. |
| birefringent | relating to birefringence. |
| catadioptric | relating to or employing both reflection and refraction, as in the construction of some long-focal-length photographic lenses. |
| catadioptrical | relating to or employing both reflection and refraction, as in the construction of some long-focal-length photographic lenses. |
| catoptric | relating to reflection. |
| catoptrical | relating to reflection. |
| catoptrics | the branch of optics which is concerned with reflected light. |
| chromatics | the science of colors; that part of optics which treats of the properties of colors. |
| chromophore | the group of atoms in a chemical compound responsible for its colour. |
| chromophoric | of or like a chromophore, the group of atoms in a chemical compound responsible for its colour. |
| chromophorous | of or like a chromophore, the group of atoms in a chemical compound responsible for its colour. |
| chromoscope | an apparatus for combining coloured images. |
| collimate | to make parallel; to adjust accurately the line of sight of (an optical instrument, such as a surveying telescope). |
| confocal | relating to a type of microscope. |
| confocally | (Adv.) CONFOCAL, relating to a type of microscope. |
| depolarizer | an agent for depolarizing. |
| desaturation | the inverse of saturation, the degree to which a colour departs from white and approaches a pure spectral wavelength. |
| dextrorotary | turning to the right, esp turning plane of polarized light. |
| dextrorotatory | turning to the right, esp turning plane of polarized light. |
| diactinic | capable of transmitting actinic rays. |
| diaphaneity | the quality of transmitting light. |
| dichroic | having two colours; as, a dichroic crystal. |
| dichroism | the property of showing different colours exhibited by doubly refracting crystals when viewed in different directions by transmitted light. |
| dichroitic | having two colours; as, a dichroic crystal. |
| dichromaticism | the property of presenting different colours by transmitted light, when viewed in two different directions. |
| diffraction | a modification which light undergoes esp in passing by the edges of opaque bodies or through narrow openings and in which the rays appear to be deflected. |
| diffractive | causing diffraction. |
| diffractively | (Adv.) DIFFRACTIVE, causing diffraction. |
| diffractiveness | the state of being diffractive, causing diffraction. |
| dioptrical | transparent. |
| dioptrically | (Adv.) DIOPTRICAL, relating to dioptrics. |
| dioptrics | the study of light refraction. |
| enantiomer | an enantiomorph, an object which is the mirror image of another. |
| enantiomeric | of or like an enantiomer. |
| enantiomorph | an object which is the mirror image of another. |
| enantiomorphic | of or like an enantiomorph. |
| enantiomorphism | the state of being enantiomorphic. |
| enantiomorphous | of or like an enantiomorph. |
| enantiomorphy | the state of being an enantiomorph, an object which is the mirror image of another. |
| etalon | (Fr.) an interferometer used to measure wavelengths, consisting of an air film enclosed between half-silvered plane-parallel glass or quartz plates. |
| eyepiece | the piece on eg a telescope that one looks through. |
| eyepoint | the point at which the eye is placed when using an optical instrument. |
| filar | of eg a microscope, having threads or wires. |
| fluorescence | visible light emitted from a material while it is exposed to ultraviolet radiation, aka black light. |
| focalise | to bring to a focus. |
| focalize | to bring to a focus. |
| focus | (Lat.) a point at which rays or waves (of light, heat, sound, etc.) meet after reflection or refraction (verb) to bring to a focus |
| focusable | able to be focused. |
| focusless | without focus. |
| holophotal | of reflectors, throwing back the rays of light without perceptible loss. |
| horopter | the locus of all points in space that stimulate points on each eye that yield the same visual direction as each other. |
| hyperfocal | referring to the minimum distance from a lens at which all objects can be focussed clearly. |
| infrared | between the red end of the visible spectrum and microwaves; (noun) infrared radiation. |
| iriscope | an instrument for exhibiting the prismatic colours. |
| kaleidophone | an instrument for demonstrating sound waves by lines of light. |
| lightwave | relating to a wave of light. No -S. |
| misfocus | to focus wrongly. |
| monocular | a field glass or microscope for use with one eye. |
| multiphoton | having many photons. |
| optic | relating to vision (noun) an eye |
| opticist | one who studies light and vision. |
| optics | the study of light. |
| optophone | a device transforming light into sound. |
| optronics | the study or use of devices involving the interaction of electronic and light signals. |
| paraxial | of a light ray, parallel to the axis of an optical system. |
| parfocal | having lenses with corresponding focal points in the same plane. |
| parfocalise | to make parfocal. |
| parfocality | the state of being parfocal. |
| parfocalize | to make parfocal. |
| pellucid | perfectly transparent. |
| pellucidity | the state of being pellucid. |
| pellucidly | (Adv.) PELLUCID, perfectly transparent. |
| phonopore | a kind of sound-conducting apparatus. |
| photic | of light, light-giving. |
| photically | (Adv.) PHOTIC, of light, light-giving. |
| photics | the science of light, optics. |
| photochromic | changing colour, and hence changing the amount of light transmitted when the incident light increases, or decreases; (noun) a photochromic material. |
| photoreactive | reacting to light. |
| phototropy | change of colour due to wavelength of incident light. |
| planoconvex | of a lens, part of an animal or plant, etc.: having one surface plane and the opposite one convex. |
| pleochroic | displaying different colours when seen from different directions. |
| pleochroism | the property of differentially absorbing different wavelengths of light depending on their direction of incidence or state of polarization. |
| polarisable | that can be polarised. |
| polarisation | the act of affecting radiation and esp light so that the vibrations of the wave assume a definite form. |
| polarise | to modify normally transverse light vibrations so that they are confined to one plane. |
| polariser | a device for polarising light. |
| polarizable | that can be polarized. |
| polarization | the act of affecting radiation and esp light so that the vibrations of the wave assume a definite form. |
| polarize | to modify normally transverse light vibrations so that they are confined to one plane. |
| polarizer | a device for polarising light. |
| polychroic | displaying different colours when seen from different directions. |
| polychroism | the state of being polychroic. |
| prismatic | of, resembling or produced by prisms. |
| prismatical | of, resembling or produced by prisms. |
| prismatically | (Adv.) PRISMATICAL, of, resembling or produced by prisms. |
| reflect | to turn or throw back from a surface. |
| reflectance | the ratio of reflected radiation to incident radiation. |
| reflectingly | (Adv.) REFLECTING. |
| reflective | capable of reflecting light, images, or sound waves. |
| reflectively | (Adv.) REFLECTIVE, capable of reflecting light, images, or sound waves. |
| reflectogram | an image produced by reflectography. |
| reflectorise | to make reflecting. |
| reflectorize | to make reflecting. |
| refract | to deflect in a particular manner, as a ray of light. |
| refractable | that can be refracted. |
| refraction | the bending of waves or rays of energy. |
| refractive | serving to refract. |
| refractively | (Adv.) REFRACTIVE, serving to refract. |
| refractor | a refracting telescope. |
| refringency | refractivity. |
| refringent | pertaining to, or possessing, refringency. |
| reticle | an attachment to an optical instrument consisting of a network of lines of reference. |
| speculum | (Lat.) a coloured patch on a bird's wing. |
| spyglass | a small handheld telescope. |
| stenopaeic | of spectacles, optical instruments, etc., having a narrow slit or aperture; designating such a slit. |
| stenopaic | of spectacles, optical instruments, etc., having a narrow slit or aperture; designating such a slit. |
| stereoptics | the optics of stereoscopy. |
| stereoscopy | the use of a stereoscope. |
| sunglass | a convex lens of glass for producing heat by converging the sun's rays into a focus. |
| supertwist | a technique of twisting light rays, used to improve the quality of lcds. |
| telescope | an optical instrument for viewing objects at a distance; (verb) to collapse part within part, like a telescope. |
| telestereoscope | an instrument for viewing distant objects stereoscopically. |
| tristimulus | as in tristimulus values, amounts of each of three colour primaries that must be combined to form an objective colour match with a sample. |
| uniaxial | having but one optic axis, or line of no double refraction. |
| uniaxially | (Adv.) UNIAXIAL, having but one optic axis, or line of no double refraction. |
| varifocal | of spectacles, having differing focal lengths. |