'cinematograph' originates from French, specifically the word 'cinématographe', where Greek 'kinēma' meant 'movement' and Greek 'graphein' meant 'to write/record'.

'cinématographe' was coined in French in the late 19th century (famously used by the Lumière brothers) and was adopted into English as 'cinematograph'.

Initially, it meant 'a device for photographing and projecting movement'; over time it came to be used more generally for 'cinema' or 'motion-picture recording', and now is largely archaic, replaced by 'camera', 'projector', or 'cinema'.