Optic

How to spell optic

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce optic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does optic mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the eye or to vision.

Optic in a sentence

• The surgeon explained how the optic nerve carries signals to the brain.

• Damage to the optic nerve can cause permanent loss of sight.

Where does optic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes from the Greek optikos, meaning 'of or relating to sight', which was built on the root opsis, 'sight' or 'vision', and ultimately on the verb form connected to seeing. It passed into Latin as opticus and then into French as optique before settling in English in the early 1600s, first in scientific writing about lenses and light. The same Greek root sits inside a whole family of vision words, including 'optician', 'optical', and even 'autopsy', which literally means 'seeing for oneself'. In British usage the word also became the trade name for the small graduated device that measures out a single shot of spirits behind a bar, and that commercial sense stuck. The spelling keeps the tidy Greek opt- stem, so there is no hidden 'au' or doubled letter to trip you up; the main thing to remember is that it is opt-, not 'op-' alone.

How the word is built

• opt- (from Greek optikos: of sight, seeing)
• -ic (adjective suffix)