Standard Lemma guide

photosynthesis

noun · 3 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.

  • UK: /ˌfəʊ.təʊˈsɪn.θə.sɪs/
  • UK: [ˌfəʊ.thəʊˈsɪn̪.θə.sɪs]
  • US: /ˌfoʊ.toʊˈsɪn.θə.sɪs/
  • US: [ˌfŏʊ.ɾoʊˈsɪn̪.θə.sɪs]
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F OW2 T OW0 S IH1 N TH AH0 S IH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any process by which plants and other photoautotrophs convert light energy into chemical energy.

Principally, oxygenic photosynthesis, any process by which plants and algae convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any process by which plants and other photoautotrophs convert light energy into chemical energy.

Also, nonoxygenic photosynthesis, used by purple and green bacteria, heliobacteria, and acidobacteria.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

synthesis of compounds with the aid of radiant energy (especially in plants)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: chemical process, chemical change, chemical action

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- English synthesis English photosynthesis From photo- + synthesis.

Across languages

Translations

88 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: fotosinthese — biological process
  • Arabic: تَمْثِيل ضَوْئِيّ (tamṯīl ḍawʔiyy) — biological process
  • Arabic: تَرْكِيب ضَوْئِيّ (tarkīb ḍawʔiyy) — biological process
  • Assamese: সালোক-সংশ্লেষণ (xalük-xoṅslexon) — biological process
  • Assamese: পোহৰ-মিলন (pühor-milon) — biological process
  • Asturian: fotosíntesis — biological process
  • Azerbaijani: fotosintez — biological process
  • Bashkir: фотосинтез (fotosintez) — biological process
  • Bengali: সালোকসংশ্লেষ (śalōkśoṅsleś) — biological process
  • Bengali: সালোকসংশ্লেষণ (śalōkśoṅsleśon) — biological process
  • Bulgarian: фотосинтеза (fotosinteza) — biological process
  • Catalan: fotosíntesi — biological process
  • Chinese: 光合作用 (kng-ha̍p chok-iōng) — biological process
  • Chinese Mandarin: 光合作用 (guānghé zuòyòng) — biological process
  • Czech: fotosyntéza — biological process
  • Danish: fotosyntese — biological process
  • Dutch: fotosynthese — biological process
  • Esperanto: fotosintezo — biological process
  • Faroese: ljóssamevning — biological process
  • Faroese: fotosyntesa — biological process
  • Finnish: fotosynteesi — biological process
  • Finnish: yhteyttäminen — biological process
  • French: photosynthèse — biological process
  • Galician: fotosíntese — biological process
  • Georgian: ფოტოსინთეზი (poṭosintezi) — biological process
  • German: Photosynthese — biological process
  • Greek: φωτοσύνθεση (fotosýnthesi) — biological process
  • Greenlandic: qaamanikkut pilersoqarneq — biological process
  • Gujarati: પ્રકાશસંશ્લેષણ (prakāśsãśleṣaṇ) — biological process
  • Hawaiian: kāʻamaʻai — biological process
  • Hebrew: פוטוסינתזה (fotosinteza) — biological process
  • Hindi: प्रकाश-संश्लेषण (prakāś-sañśleṣaṇ) — biological process
  • Hungarian: fotoszintézis — biological process
  • Icelandic: ljóstillífun — biological process
  • Indonesian: fotosintesis — biological process
  • Irish: fótaisintéis — biological process
  • Italian: fotosintesi — biological process
  • Japanese: 光合成 (kōgōsei) — biological process
  • Kannada: ದ್ಯುತಿಸಂಶ್ಲೇಷಣೆ (dyutisaṃślēṣaṇe) — biological process
  • Kannada: ಬೆಳಕು ಹಮ್ಮುಗೆ (beḷaku hammuge) — biological process
  • Kazakh: фотосинтез (fotosintez) — biological process
  • Kazakh: сәулеқұрау (säuleqūrau) — biological process
  • Khmer: រស្មីសំយោគ (rɔɔsməysɑmyook) — biological process
  • Korean: 광합성 (gwanghapseong) — biological process
  • Kyrgyz: фотосинтез (fotosintez) — biological process
  • Latin: photosynthesis — biological process
  • Latvian: fotosintēze — biological process
  • Lithuanian: fotosintezė — biological process
  • Low German: Photosynthese — biological process
  • Macedonian: фотосинтеза (fotosinteza) — biological process
  • Malay: fotosintesis — biological process
  • Malayalam: പ്രകാശസംശ്ലേഷണം (prakāśasaṁślēṣaṇaṁ) — biological process
  • Manx: co-haaghey sollysh — biological process
  • Māori: ahotakakame — biological process
  • Marathi: प्रकाशसंश्लेषण (prakāśsauśleṣaṇ) — biological process
  • Nepali: प्रकाश संश्लेषण (prakāś saṅśaleṣaṇ) — biological process
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fotosyntese — biological process
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fotosyntese — biological process
  • Occitan: fotosintèsi — biological process
  • Persian: نورساخت (nursâxt) — biological process
  • Polish: fotosynteza — biological process
  • Portuguese: fotossíntese — biological process
  • Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸੰਸਲੇਸ਼ਣ (prkāś sansleśaṇ) — biological process
  • Quechua: inti wayllay — biological process
  • Romanian: fotosinteză — biological process
  • Russian: фотоси́нтез (fotosíntɛz) — biological process
  • Scottish Gaelic: foto-cho-chur — biological process
  • Sindhi: تِڙڪيسازِي (tiṛkesāzī) — biological process
  • Sinhalese: ප්රභාසංශ්ලේෂණය (prabhāsaṁślēṣaṇaya) — biological process
  • Slovene: fotosinteza — biological process
  • Somali: habka samayska cuntada — biological process
  • Spanish: fotosíntesis — biological process
  • Sundanese: fotosintésis — biological process
  • Swahili: usanisinuru — biological process
  • Swahili: usanidimwanga — biological process
  • Swedish: fotosyntes — biological process
  • Tagalog: potosintesis — biological process
  • Tamil: ஒளிச்சேர்க்கை (oḷiccērkkai) — biological process
  • Telugu: కిరణజన్య సంయోగ క్రియ (kiraṇajanya saṁyōga kriya) — biological process
  • Thai: การสังเคราะห์แสง (kār s̄ạngkherāah̄̒ s̄æng) — biological process
  • Turkish: fotosentez — biological process
  • Turkish: ışılbireşim — biological process
  • Turkish: ışık yardımı ile besin biriktirme süreci — biological process
  • Ukrainian: фотоси́нтез (fotosýntez) — biological process
  • Uyghur: فوتوسىنتېز (fotosintëz) — biological process
  • Vietnamese: quang hợp — biological process
  • Welsh: ffotosynthesis — biological process
  • Zulu: ukwakhiwa kokudla kwesihlahla — biological process
Real reading context

photosynthesis in complete knowledge articles