entry
perspective
/pɚˈspɛktɪv/Viewpoint; depth in representation
From Latin per (through) + Latin specere (to look at).
from Old French perspective and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Latin perspectus "clearly perceived," past participle of perspicere "inspect, look through, look closely at,"
from Latin perspectus "clearly perceived," past participle of perspicere "inspect, look through, look closely at,"
from Old French perspective and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Old French perspective and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Old French perspective and directly
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Old French perspective and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Latin perspectus "clearly perceived," past participle of perspicere "inspect, look through, look closely at,"
from Latin perspectus "clearly perceived," past participle of perspicere "inspect, look through, look closely at,"
from Old French perspective and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Old French perspective and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Old French perspective and directly
+1 more sourceThis word began life in the workshop of the eye. Medieval scholars used perspectiva ars for the science of optics, and that sounds exactly like something monks would debate while squinting over candlelight and little painted diagrams. The trick is in the roots: per gives you the sense of 'through,' while specere is the plain Latin business of 'looking'—the same family that gave us suspect, inspect, spectacle, and perspicuous. By the 1590s, artists had stolen the term for the new illusion of depth on a flat surface, a clever bit of visual lying that made a doorway seem to open inside a board. Then English turned the word inward, and perspective became not just how things look, but how a mind arranges them—proof that sometimes the most important distance is the one between your point of view and everyone else's.
The Story
This word began life in the workshop of the eye. Medieval scholars used perspectiva ars for the science of optics, and that sounds exactly like something monks would debate while squinting over candlelight and little painted diagrams. The trick is in the roots: per gives you the sense of 'through,' while specere is the plain Latin business of 'looking'—the same family that gave us suspect, inspect, spectacle, and perspicuous. By the 1590s, artists had stolen the term for the new illusion of depth on a flat surface, a clever bit of visual lying that made a doorway seem to open inside a board. Then English turned the word inward, and perspective became not just how things look, but how a mind arranges them—proof that sometimes the most important distance is the one between your point of view and everyone else's.
Kin & Kindred
From 'per'·through, thoroughly
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'specere'·to look at, inspect
Derived Terms
English words from this root