English

Etymology

Transliteration of German X-Strahl , coined by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen upon his discovery of the rays in 1895, x signifying their unknown nature.

Noun

X-ray

1. Short wavelength electromagnetic radiation usually produced by bombarding a metal target in a vacuum. Used to create images of the internal structure of objects; this is possible because X-rays pass through most objects and can expose photographic film .

   X-rays are light with a wavelength between 0.1 and 10 nm .

2. (Colloquial) A photograph made with X-rays. The proper term for this is "radiograph."

   "The doctor ordered some X-rays of my injured wrist."

3. An X-ray machine .
4. The letter X in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

Translations

• Catalan: raig X m (1), radiografia f (2)
• Chinese: X射线 , 爱克斯射线 (1)
• Dutch: röntgenstraal f (1), röntgenfoto f (2), röntgenapparaat n (3)
• Finnish: röntgensäteily (1), röntgenkuva (2), röntgenlaite (3)
• French: rayon X m (1), rayon Röntgen m (1), radiographie f (2),
• German: Röntgenstrahl (1), Röntgenbild (2), Röntgenapparaat (3)
• Hebrew:
  • קַרנֵי רֶנְטְגֶן
  • קרני x
• Indonesian: ronsen / rontgen (1), sinar-X (2)
• Interlingua: rayos röntgen (1), röntgenogramma (2)
• Japanese: レントゲン (rentogen) (1), X線 / エックス線 (エックスせん, ekkusu-sen) (2)
• Romanica: radios röntgen m pl (1), röntgenogramma m (2), radiographia f
• Spanish: rayo X m (1), radiografía f (2)
• Volapük: räyastrals (1), räyöf (2), räyöm (3)

Transitive verb

X-ray

1. (Colloquial) To expose film with X-ray radiation, especially for the purpose of medical diagnostic evaluation. Properly, the way to express this is "take a radiograph of".

   Of course there was nothing wrong with my left wrist. They X-rayed the wrong arm!"

Translations

• Dutch: doorlichten , bestralen , röntgenen , met röntgenstralen onderzoeken
• Finnish: ottaa röntgenkuva , röntgenkuvata
• French: radiographier , soumettre à un examen radiographique
• German: röntgen
• Hebrew: צִילֵּם בְּקַרְנֵי רֶנְטְגֶן
• Romanica: radiographiar

Adjective

X-ray

1. Of or having to do with x-rays.

   I had to put my bags through an X-ray scanner at the airport.

External links

• A picture of an X-ray photograph.

• A picture of an X-ray machine

• Wikipedia article on X-ray .