Photoshop

How to spell photoshop

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce photoshop

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does photoshop mean?

1. verbTo alter or manipulate a digital image using editing software.

Photoshop in a sentence

• The magazine was accused of using software to photoshop the cover model.

• He learned to photoshop old family photographs to remove the scratches.

Where does photoshop come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word is a genericised trademark, built from Adobe Photoshop, the image-editing software first released in 1990. The first element comes from 'photo', a shortening of 'photograph', which itself traces to the Greek phos (genitive photos) meaning 'light', joined to graphein 'to write or draw', so a photograph is literally 'light-writing'. The second element is the ordinary English 'shop', from Old English sceoppa meaning a booth or shed, later a workshop or place where work is done. Adobe combined them to suggest a digital workshop for photographs, and within a decade everyday writers were using 'photoshop' as a verb for altering any image, regardless of the software actually used. Because the brand is properly capitalised, careful writers sometimes hesitate over whether the generic verb should be lowercase, which is the small spelling and styling trap here.

How the word is built

• photo- (light, from the noun photograph)
• shop (workshop, place of work)