lens

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See also: lēns, Lens, and Lëns

English[edit]

The lenses in bifocals bend light, distorting the appearance of the background.
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin lēns (lentil); Medieval Latin later taking on the sense of "lens"; a semantic loan from Arabic عَدْسَة (ʕadsa, lentil; optic lens).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /lɛnz/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛnz

Noun[edit]

lens (plural lenses or (obsolete) lens or (rare) lentes)

  1. An object, usually made of glass, that focuses or defocuses the light that passes through it.
    • 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
      Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field.
  2. A device which focuses or defocuses electron beams.
  3. (geometry) A convex shape bounded by two circular arcs, joined at their endpoints, the corresponding concave shape being a lune.
  4. (biology) A genus of the legume family; its bean.
  5. (anatomy) The transparent crystalline structure in the eye.
    • 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist:
      The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.
  6. (earth science) A body of rock, ice, or water shaped like a convex lens.
  7. (programming) A construct used in statically-typed functional programming languages to access nested data structures.
  8. (by extension, figuratively) A way of looking, literally or figuratively, at something.
    • 2004 April 11, Ann Hulbert, “Are the Kids All Right?”, in The New York Times Magazine, page 11:
      If "the public looks at the condition of America's children largely through a negative lens," worries Child Trends [] , "it may be more difficult to [] promote child well-being."
    • 2023 April 26, Benjamin Lee, quoting Steven Spielberg, “Steven Spielberg: ‘No film should be revised’ based on modern sensitivity”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
      No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are, either voluntarily, or being forced to peer through.

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from lens (noun)

Descendants[edit]

  • Bengali: লেন্স (lenśo)
  • Turkish: lens

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb[edit]

lens (third-person singular simple present lenses, present participle lensing, simple past and past participle lensed)

  1. (transitive, cinematography) To film, shoot.
    • 2020 May 7, Katie Rife, “If you’re looking to jump in your seat, make a playdate with Z”, in The Onion AV Club[2]:
      It’s set in an anonymous, upper-middle-class suburb, lensed in the generic gunmetal gray that will one day appear as dated as the fuzzy outlines of ’80s direct-to-video horror movies.
  2. (geology) To become thinner towards the edges.

Translations[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch lens, from Latin lēns (lentil).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

lens (plural lense)

  1. lens

Danish[edit]

Noun[edit]

lens n

  1. genitive singular indefinite of len
  2. genitive plural indefinite of len

Dutch[edit]

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from Latin lēns (lentil).

Noun[edit]

lens f (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)

  1. (optics) optical lens
  2. crystalline lens in the eye
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Probably related to lans (lance).

Noun[edit]

lens m (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)

  1. (historical) A type of barbless harpoon used for killing whales.

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle Dutch lense, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of Middle Dutch lunse (see luns), or perhaps a dialectal borrowing from Old Frisian *lens, *lenis, from Proto-West Germanic *lunis, related to Old English lynis (linchpin).

Noun[edit]

lens f (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)

  1. Alternative form of luns

Etymology 4[edit]

Adjective[edit]

lens (comparative lenzer, superlative meest lens or lenst)

  1. empty
  2. weak, flaccid
Inflection[edit]
Inflection of lens
uninflected lens
inflected lenze
comparative lenzer
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial lens lenzer het lenst
het lenste
indefinite m./f. sing. lenze lenzere lenste
n. sing. lens lenzer lenste
plural lenze lenzere lenste
definite lenze lenzere lenste
partitive lens lenzers
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Unknown, likely a borrowing from an unidentified source.

Compare Old High German linsa, Lithuanian lęšis, Old Church Slavonic лѧща (lęšta), and Albanian lend (Proto-Albanian *lenta), sounding too similar for a coincidence, however different enough to prohibit reconstruction of a common PIE protoform. May also be related to Ancient Greek λάθυρος (láthuros).

If ultimately a non-IE substrate loanword, locating the source is virtually impossible because cultivation of lentil was widespread in the region since the Neolithic.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

lēns f (genitive lentis); third declension

  1. lentil
  2. (Medieval Latin) lens
Declension[edit]

Third-declension noun (i-stem, accusative singular in -em or -im, ablative singular in -e or ).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative lēns lentēs
Genitive lentis lentium
Dative lentī lentibus
Accusative lentem
lentim
lentēs
lentīs
Ablative lente
lentī
lentibus
Vocative lēns lentēs
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • Aromanian: linti
  • Catalan: lent
  • Friulian: lint
  • Galician: lente
  • Italian: lente
  • Portuguese: lente
  • Romanian: linte
  • Sicilian: lenti
  • Spanish: lente
  • Venetian: lente
  • Dutch: lens (learned) (see there for further descendants)
  • English: lens (learned) (see there for further descendants)
  • Proto-West Germanic: *linsī (see there for further descendants)

Etymology 2[edit]

Unknown. According to de Vaan, perhaps a deformed form of what is found as Proto-Slavic *gňìda (nit), Proto-Germanic *hnits (nit), Ancient Greek κονίς (konís) (gen. κονίδος (konídos)), Armenian անիծ (anic, nit); he proposes Proto-Indo-European *dḱ(o)nid- > *dkni-n-d- > *dklind- > Proto-Italic *(d)lind-. However, like the Indo-European cognates, it may be of substrate origin.

Noun[edit]

lēns f (genitive lendis); third declension

  1. nit (egg of a louse)
Declension[edit]

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative lēns lendēs
Genitive lendis lendum
Dative lendī lendibus
Accusative lendem lendēs
Ablative lende lendibus
Vocative lēns lendēs
Descendants[edit]
  • Gallo-Romance:
  • Late Latin: lendis (see there for further descendants)

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • lens”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • lens”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • lens in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

Turkish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English lens; ultimately from Latin lēns.

Noun[edit]

lens (definite accusative lensi, plural lensler)

  1. contact lens

Declension[edit]

Inflection
Nominative lens
Definite accusative lensi
Singular Plural
Nominative lens lensler
Definite accusative lensi lensleri
Dative lense lenslere
Locative lenste lenslerde
Ablative lensten lenslerden
Genitive lensin lenslerin

Synonyms[edit]