Absorptiometer

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əbˌzɔːp.ʃɪˈɒ.mɪ.ɚ/

Definitions

1. A scientific instrument that gauges how different substances absorb electromagnetic radiation
2. A precise tool utilized in experiments to assess how various materials interact with and absorb electromagnetic radiation
3. An apparatus designed to quantify the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by a sample

Etymology: The word is a modern technical coinage, built from two parts with long histories. The first, "absorption," comes from Latin "absorbere," meaning "to suck up" or "swallow," formed from "ab-" ("away") and "sorbere" ("to suck in"). The second, "-meter," comes from Greek "metron," meaning "measure," which passed into English through French "-mètre." The "-o-" in the middle is a linking vowel, the kind that joins Greek-style elements, and it is the same sort of connector found in words like "thermometer" and "speedometer." Put together, the parts describe exactly what the instrument does: it measures absorption. Scientists needed a precise name for a device that quantifies how much radiation a material takes in, and they assembled one from established scientific building blocks rather than inheriting it from any ancient source. The Greeks and Romans never used the word, since its elements were brought together only in the modern period to name a laboratory instrument.