Eurovision

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. An annual televised music competition in which countries from across Europe send songs to be judged by viewers and juries
2. The yearly international song contest organized by the European Broadcasting Union, where nations perform original pop songs on stage
3. A famous continent-wide music festival that pits national entries against one another in a live televised final each spring or May

Etymology: The name began as a trademark, and it was built by joining two pieces: "Euro-", the combining form for Europe, and "vision", a word that in English means both sight and a picture seen in the mind. The result was coined to name a television network that would link European broadcasters, long before anyone thought of it as a song competition. The same word is also used as a noun and adjective for the annual contest that grew out of that network. Its structure is plain, and the pattern is familiar from other broadcast names. "Euro-" appears in many modern coinages, often for things that span European countries, while "vision" supplies the idea of seeing something from afar. Put together, the name promises a continent-wide view on screen.