Videotronic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to electronic systems that produce, process, or display video images
2. Describing equipment or effects that work through electronic video technology
3. Of or concerning the electronic handling and display of moving pictures on screens

Etymology: "Videotronic" is a technical coinage built from "video" and "-tronic," and its history is a matter of marketing rather than deep linguistic change. The first element comes from Latin "videre," "to see," which gave English "video" in the 1920s as a term for television-related technology. The second element, "-tronic," is an English combining form drawn from "electronic," itself formed from "electron" with the suffix "-ic," and it became a fashionable suffix in the mid-20th century for devices and products with an electronic or automated feel. The compound was used in the 1960s and 1970s, most notably by manufacturers wanting their video equipment to sound futuristic. Its meaning is essentially "relating to electronic video," and it belongs to a family of coinages like "Autotronic" and "Videotronics" that promised high-tech sophistication to buyers. Because it was devised for commercial branding instead of gradual speech, its exact first recorded date is uncertain, and it is best understood as a deliberately constructed modern word.