cinema

The word 'cinema' is a direct borrowing from the French 'cinéma', which was a shortened form of 'cinématographe', the name of an early film camera and projector invented by the Lumière brothers. 'Cinématographe' itself was constructed from the Greek roots 'kinēma' (meaning 'movement') and 'graphein' (meaning 'to write'). The term thus carries the literal sense of "writing in movement," a perfect description of the process of recording motion pictures. Over time, the shortened form 'cinema' entered English to refer first to the technology and venue, and then by extension to the art and industry of filmmaking itself.

The word is a loanword adopted as a single unit from French. It originates from the French 'cinéma', itself a shortening of 'cinématographe', a term coined from Greek elements.