'photogenic' originates from Greek, specifically the words 'phōtós' and 'genikós', where 'phōtós' meant 'light' and 'genikós' meant 'producing'.

'photogenic' was formed in English in the late 19th century by combining the prefix 'photo-' (from Greek 'phōtós' via French/Latin) and the suffix '-genic' (from Greek 'genikós' via Latin/French), yielding the modern English word 'photogenic'.

Initially it meant 'producing or susceptible to being photographed', and over time it has come to mean 'suiting or looking good in photographs' with little change in core sense.