microfiche
UK[ˈmaɪ.krəʊ.fiːʃ]US[ˈmaɪ.kroʊ.fiːʃ]
n
A flat piece of film containing greatly reduced photographs of the pages of a document, used for storing information in a small space.
Morpheme Breakdown
micro
fiche
micro
small
fiche
sheet
Etymology
The word "microfiche" is a modern compound formed in the 20th century from two distinct linguistic sources. The first element, "micro-", is derived from the ancient Greek mikros, meaning "small," a root widely used in scientific and technical vocabulary to denote minute scale. The second element, "fiche," was borrowed directly from French, where it refers to a slip or sheet of paper, tracing back to the Old French verb for fixing or inserting. The compound's logic is transparently descriptive: it literally means a "small sheet," which perfectly captures the technology's essence—a small, flat film sheet containing miniaturized photographic images of documents for compact storage and retrieval.
Analysis
Structure: micro (small) + fiche (sheet)
micro: From Greek mikros (small). A combining form meaning "very small" or "involving a small scale."
fiche: From French fiche (a slip, card, or sheet of paper), from Old French ficher (to fix, insert). In this compound, it denotes a sheet or card.
Examples
The library's old newspaper archives are stored on microfiche.
Before digital scanners, researchers spent hours reading articles on microfiche viewers.
Converting the microfiche records to digital files was a major preservation project.