Other forms: x-rays
An x-ray is a photograph that shows the bones through the skin. Take an x-ray.
Bone stops the rays and soft tissue does not, which is the whole of how it works. The x-ray was discovered by accident in 1895 and named x because nobody knew what it was.
1nounx-rayA photograph that shows the bones through the skin.
“The x-ray showed a break nobody had suspected.”
x-ray is a picture.
German
X-Strahl
English
X-ray
English, today
x-ray
X-ray comes from X + ray, a German X-Strahl, coined by Wilhelm Röntgen upon his discovery of the rays in 1895, where X signifies their unknown nature. The chess sense is metaphorical, referring to control passing through a seemingly solid barrier.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Body & Health