means The art and practice of capturing images by recording light, usually onto film or a digital sensor, to make a lasting picture.

from Built from Greek roots that say exactly what it does: phōs, phōtos, "light," joined to graphein, "to draw or write." So the word literally means "drawing with light" — the same graphein that gives us writing, graphics, and a whole family of -graphy crafts. The term was coined in the 19th century as the technology emerged, sitting neatly beside cousins like telegraph ("far-writing") and photograph itself, the single picture the practice produces.