telescopic

/ˌteləˈskɔːpɪk/teh-luh-SKAW-pik

/ˌtɛləˈskɔpɪk/teh-luh-SKAW-pik

Meaningrelating to a far-off viewer

Common meaning: relating to telescope

telefar offLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 804 · scan
scopGreek skopein: to look at
icadjective ending: relating to

‘far off’ + ‘to look at’ → telescopic

Journey through time

Only the tele half is traced; the path of scop is not in our sources yet.

tele Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle) “far off”

Greekτῆλε (têle)‘far off’

scop Ancient Greek “Greek skopein: to look at” · path not traced

Parts join in English as telescope.

Englishtelescope‘an instrument for seeing distant objects’
Englishformed in English from telescopetelescopic‘relating to telescope’ · today

Sources & notes

Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: relating to a far-off viewer. It can be inferred from any of: telescope.

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from telescope + -ic (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).

Roots

τῆλε (têle) Ancient Greek “far off”

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