noun · 2 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.
spĕk-trŏm′ĭ-tər
Received-Pronunciation:/spɛkˈtɹɒm.ɪ.tə/
Canada, General-American:/spɛkˈtɹɑm.ɪ.təɹ/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Canada:/spɛkˈtɹɒm.ɪ.təɹ/
Australian:/spekˈtɹɔm.ɪ.tə/
New-Zealand:/spekˈtɹɔm.ə.tɐ/
Scotland:/spɛkˈtɹɔm.ɪ.təɹ/
rhymes with -ɒmɪtə(ɹ)
CMU ARPABET:S P EH0 K T R AA1 M AH0 T ER0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
An optical instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances; typically it will plot a graph of absorption versus wavelength or frequency, and the patterns produced are used to identify the substances present, and their internal structure.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: analytical chemistry
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
spectroscope for obtaining a mass spectrum by deflecting ions into a thin slit and measuring the ion current with an electrometer
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: mass spectrometer
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: spectroscope, prism spectroscope
Narrower terms: mass spectrograph
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Latin speciō Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Italic *-trom Latin -trum Latin spectrumbor. English spectrum English spectro- Proto-Indo-European *meh1- ▲ Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Hellenic *-tron Ancient Greek -τρον (-tron) Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron)lbor. French -mètrebor. English -meter English spectrometer From spectro- + -meter.
Across languages
Translations
28 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bengali:
বর্ণালীমাপক
(bornalimapok)
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Catalan:
espectròmetre
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Chinese Mandarin:
光譜儀 /光谱仪
(guāngpǔyí)
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Czech:
spektrometr
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Czech:
vidmoměr
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Dutch:
spectrometer
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Finnish:
spektrometri
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
French:
spectromètre
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
German:
Spektrometer
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Hindi:
वर्णक्रममापी
(varṇakrammāpī)
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Italian:
spettrometro
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Italian:
spettroscopio
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Japanese:
分光計
(bunkōkei)
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Kannada:
ರೋಹಿತ ಮಾಪಕ
(rōhita māpaka)
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Korean:
분광기
(bun'gwanggi)
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Malay:
spektrometer
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Norwegian Bokmål:
spektrometer
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Norwegian Nynorsk:
spektrometer
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Persian:
طیفسنج
(teyf-sanj)
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Polish:
spektrometr
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Portuguese:
espetrómetro
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Portuguese:
espectrómetro
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Portuguese:
espectrômetro
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Romanian:
spectrometru
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Russian:
спектро́метр
(spektrómetr)
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Spanish:
espectrómetro
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Tagalog:
balngawsukat
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
Turkish:
spektrometre
— instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances
