The building blocks of English
Affixes
ster(eo)-
Solid; three-dimensional.
Greek stereos, solid.
Sound that is stereophonic (stereo for short) seems to be distributed in space; stereochemistry is concerned with the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms and molecules; a steradian is the SI unit of solid angle; stereography (adjective stereographic) is the representation of three-dimensional things by projection on to a flat surface, for example in map-making or crystallography. A stereoscope is a device by which two photographs can be viewed together to create an impression of depth; the derived adjective stereoscopic refers to something having an appearance of solidity or relief. Stereotype, now usually meaning a fixed and oversimplified image or idea, comes from an older sense of a relief printing plate cast from type.
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