Biograph

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. An early type of film camera and projector used to show moving pictures in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
2. A pioneering motion-picture apparatus from the early cinema era that could both record and project moving images
3. Early cinematic equipment, once made by a well-known American firm, used for filming and screening motion pictures

Etymology: "Biograph" is a compound of two Greek-derived elements: "bio-", from Greek "bios" meaning "life," and "-graph," from Greek "graphein," meaning "to write." Put together, the pieces describe a written account of a life, which is exactly what a biography is. The word is built on the same pattern as many other English words that pair these two elements, such as "autograph" (self-writing) and "photograph" (writing with light). Because the parts are so transparent, the word needs little explanation beyond its construction. "Bio-" served as a combining form that English borrowed from Greek and later attached to many other terms, while "-graph" remained a productive ending for things that record or write something down. The result is a term that reads almost like a literal description of its own purpose.

Synonyms: film projector, movie projector