Stereo Means Solid, Not Sound
Stereo describes sound from two channels. The Greek root means solid or three-dimensional, and it named 3D images long before it named audio.
Stereo normally means sound reproduced through two or more channels. The Greek *stereos* means solid or three-dimensional, and it named pictures before it named sound: Charles Wheatstone's stereoscope of 1838 gave each eye a slightly different image to create depth, decades before anyone applied the idea to hearing. Stereo sound is depth for the ears.
- Two-channel sound. *Recorded in stereo.*
- A sound system. *The car stereo.*
- Stereoscopic — giving an impression of depth. *Stereoscopic vision.*
- Stereotype — from printing, a solid plate. *A tired stereotype.*
- Mono — single channel, the opposite. *A mono recording.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | stereo | An old stereo. |
| Adjective | stereo | Stereo sound. |
| Full form | stereophonic | Stereophonic recording. |
| Related | stereoscope | A Victorian stereoscope. |
| Related | stereotype | A printing stereotype. |
- The album was remixed in stereo.Audio.
- Stereoscopic vision needs two eyes.Optics.
- The word stereotype began in a print shop.Etymology.
Why stereotype means what it does
- In printing — a stereotype was a solid metal plate cast from set type
- Its advantage — you could print the same page again and again without resetting
- The metaphor — a fixed idea reproduced without variation
- Journalist Walter Lippmann popularised the modern sense in 1922
- Cliché — comes from printing too, imitating the sound of the casting process
From Greek *stereos*, solid. *Stereophonic* dates from the 1920s and was clipped to *stereo* in the 1950s as home hi-fi spread.
Does stereo mean two?
No. It means solid or three-dimensional. The two-channel sense comes from creating a sense of space, which happens to need at least two channels.
Is stereotype related to stereo?
Yes. A stereotype was a solid printing plate, and the figurative sense of an unchanging fixed idea grew out of that.