Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
The emission of light by a living organism (such as a firefly).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
luminescence produced by physiological processes (as in the firefly)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: luminescence
History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gweyh3-der. Ancient Greek βῐ́ος (bĭ́os) Ancient Greek βῐο- (bĭo-)der. English bio- Proto-Indo-European *lewk- Proto-Indo-European *-s- Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *léwksmn̥ Proto-Italic *louksmən Latin lumen Proto-Indo-European *-éh1ti Proto-Indo-European *-sḱéti Proto-Indo-European *-éh1sḱeti Proto-Italic *-ēskō Latin -ēscō Latin -escensder. English -escence English luminescence English bioluminescence From bio- + luminescence.
Across languages
23 source translations are retained for this English entry.
