English
pixel
Pixel comes from English pix ‘pictures’.
- English1500–presentpix‘pictures’
- Englishearliest quotation 1965pixel
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- English1500–presentpix‘pictures’
- Englishearliest quotation 1965pixel
Earliest quotation: 1965, Fred C. Billingsley, Digital Video Processing at JPL: “We have chosen to sample at a 500 KC…”
first attested First attested in 1965 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
The ⟨x⟩ stems from the abbreviation pics being sometimes also written as pix, which has been in use since the 1880s. First attested in 1965.
Every English word from English pix
Today it means
noun One of the tiny dots that make up the representation of an image in a computer's memory.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / English pix / pixel