"of or pertaining to the generation of an electric current at the junction of two substances exposed to light," 1923, from photo- + voltaic. Related: Photovoltaics (see -ics).
Entries linking to photovoltaic
photo-
word-forming element meaning "light" or "photographic" or "photoelectric," from Greek photo-, combining form of phōs (genitive phōtos) "light" (from PIE root *bha- (1) "to shine").
voltaic adj.
1813, designating electricity produced by chemical action, formed in recognition of Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), who perfected a chemical process used in electrical batteries, + -ic.
-ics
in the names of sciences or disciplines (acoustics, aerobics, economics, etc.), a 16c. revival of the classical custom of using the neuter plural of adjectives with Greek -ikos "pertaining to" (see -ic) to mean "matters relevant to" and also as the titles of treatises about them. Subject matters that acquired their English names before c. 1500, however, tend to be singular in form (arithmetic, logic, magic, music, rhetoric). The grammatical number of words in -ics (mathematics is/mathematics are) is a confused question.