optics

See also: òptics

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒptɪks/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɑptɪks/

Etymology 1

From Medieval Latin opticus (“optic, optical”), from Ancient Greek ὀπτικός (optikós), equivalent to optic +‎ -ics.

Noun

optics (uncountable)

1. (physics) The physics of light and vision.
2. The light-related aspects of a device.

   The optics of this telescope are particularly good.

   • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:

     Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, […] .

3. (figuratively) Perception, image, public relations.
   • 2007 January 1, Mark Steyn, "Blowing a 'hinge moment' of history", in The Jerusalem Post:

     […] I'd be interested to know whether US authorities proffered any "advice" on the optics: Ixnay on the torture dungeon, […] ; if you have to have victims' loved ones present, go for the widows and photogenic orphans rather than Moqtada's boys.

   • 2015 September 28, Dan Neil, quoted in "Pope Francis and the little black car", BBC News:

     "There's also a gentle nod to the Vatican and Italy, which shows the Pope is not above playing a little optics - I'm sure he and the CEO of Fiat have met."

Translations

physics of light and vision

• Arabic: بَصَرِيَّات (ar) f pl (baṣariyyāt)
• Catalan: òptica (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 光學／光学 (zh) (guāngxué), 光学 (zh) (guāngxué)

• Czech: optika (cs) f
• Finnish: optiikka (fi), valo-oppi (fi)
• German: Optik (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὀπτικά n pl (optiká)

• Gujarati: પ્રકાશવિજ્ઞાન (prakāśvijñān)
• Hebrew: אופטיקה (he) f (óptika), תורת האור f (torat ha-ór)
• Hindi: प्रकाशिकी (prakāśikī)
• Hungarian: optika (hu), fénytan (hu)
• Icelandic: ljósfræði (is) f, sjónfræði f
• Irish: optaic f, radharceolaíocht f
• Italian: ottica (it) f
• Japanese: 光学 (ja) (こうがく, kōgaku)
• Kannada: ದೃಗ್ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ (kn) (dṛgvijñāna)
• Korean: 광학 (ko) (gwanghak) (光學 (ko))
• Malayalam: പ്രകാശശാസ്ത്രം (prakāśaśāstraṁ)
• Marathi: प्रकाशशास्त्र (prakāśśāstra)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: optikk (no) m

  Nynorsk: optikk m

• Persian: نورشناسی (fa) (nur-šenâsi)
• Polish: optyka (pl) f
• Portuguese: óptica (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਵਿਗਿਆਨ (prkāś vigiāna), ਚਾਨਣ ਵਿਗਿਆਨ (cānaṇ vigiāna)
• Russian: о́птика (ru) f (óptika)
• Serbo-Croatian: optika (sh) f
• Slovene: optika (sl) f
• Somali: araga
• Spanish: óptica (es) f
• Swedish: optik (sv) c
• Tagalog: dalubsugaan, sugaan
• Telugu: కాంతిశాస్త్రము (kāntiśāstramu)
• Thai: ทรรศนศาสตร์ (táts-ná-sàat)
• Vietnamese: quang học (vi) (光學)
• Voro: valgusõoppus
• Wolof: ngiste (wo)

the light-related aspects of a device

• Hebrew: אופטיקה (he) f (óptika)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: optikk (no) m

  Nynorsk: optikk m

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: о́птика (ru) f (óptika)

public relations

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Etymology 2

Noun

optics

1. plural of optic

Anagrams

• copist, cops it, picots, postic, topics