Standard Lemma guide

photometer

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

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.

  • General-American: /fəˈtɑmɪtɚ/
  • General-American: /ˈfoʊtoʊˌmitɚ/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /fəˈtɒmɪtə(ɹ)/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈfəʊtəʊˌmiːtə(ɹ)/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒmɪtə(ɹ)
  • rhymes with -iːtə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: F AH0 T AA1 M IH0 T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of several instruments used to measure various aspects of the intensity of light.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To measure some aspect of light (from a star) using a photometer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

photographic equipment that measures the intensity of light

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: light meter, exposure meter

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: photographic equipment

Narrower terms: cytophotometer

4

noun

Meaning 4

measuring instrument for measuring the luminous intensity of a source by comparing it (visually or photoelectrically) with a standard source

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: measuring instrument, measuring system, measuring device

Narrower terms: spectrophotometer

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bheh2- Proto-Indo-European *bhéh2os Proto-Hellenic *pháwos Ancient Greek φᾰ́ος (phắos) Ancient Greek φῶς (phôs) Ancient Greek φωτο- (phōto-)der. English photo- Proto-Indo-European *meh1- Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Hellenic *-tron Ancient Greek -τρον (-tron) Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron)lbor. French -mètrebor. English -meter English photometer From photo- + -meter.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: fotómetru — measuring instrument
  • Azerbaijani: işıqölçən — measuring instrument
  • Bengali: ফটোমিটার (phoṭōmiṭar) — measuring instrument
  • Catalan: fotòmetre — measuring instrument
  • Chinese Mandarin: 光度計 /光度计 (guāngdùjì) — measuring instrument
  • Finnish: fotometri — measuring instrument
  • French: photomètre — measuring instrument
  • Galician: fotómetro — measuring instrument
  • German: Luminometer — measuring instrument
  • Irish: fótaiméadar — measuring instrument
  • Italian: fotometro — measuring instrument
  • Japanese: 光度計 (kōdokei) — measuring instrument
  • Kazakh: фотометр (fotometr) — measuring instrument
  • Macedonian: фотоме́тар (fotométar) — measuring instrument
  • Malay: jangka cahaya — measuring instrument
  • Malay: fotometer — measuring instrument
  • Persian: نورسنج — measuring instrument
  • Polish: fotometr — measuring instrument
  • Brazilian Portuguese: fotômetro — measuring instrument
  • European Portuguese: fotómetro — measuring instrument
  • Romanian: fotometru — measuring instrument
  • Russian: фото́метр (fotómetr) — measuring instrument
  • Spanish: fotómetro — measuring instrument
  • Tagalog: sugasukod — measuring instrument
  • Uzbek: fotometr — measuring instrument