Ultraviolet

How to spell ultraviolet

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce ultraviolet

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ultraviolet mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths just shorter than visible violet light, often abbreviated UV.
2. nounThe region of invisible radiation lying beyond the violet end of the visible spectrum.

Ultraviolet in a sentence

• adjective

  The sunscreen blocks most of the ultraviolet rays that cause sunburn.

• noun

  The ozone layer absorbs much of the ultraviolet that reaches the planet.

• adjective

  Forensic teams used an ultraviolet lamp to reveal the hidden stains.

• noun

  Certain minerals glow brightly under ultraviolet in a darkened room.

Where does ultraviolet come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a compound built from the Latin prefix ultra-, meaning 'beyond' or 'on the far side of', joined to the colour name 'violet'. The colour word itself reached English through the Old French violete, a small form of viole, which traces back to the Latin viola, the name of the flower and its bluish-purple hue. Scientists coined 'ultraviolet' in the middle of the nineteenth century to describe the invisible radiation lying just beyond the violet end of the visible spectrum, where wavelengths are too short for the eye to see. The same ultra- element of 'going beyond a limit' appears in everyday words like 'ultramodern' and 'ultrasound', which is a useful memory hook. The trap in spelling is the smooth join: it is a single solid word with no hyphen and no extra letters, simply ultra plus violet.

How the word is built

• ultra- (beyond)
• violet (the colour at the end of the visible spectrum)