photobomb

English

WOTD – 5 November 2012

A man in a banana costume photobombing a group photo of some Halloween partygoers.

Etymology

From photo +‎ bomb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfəʊtəʊˌbɒm/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

photobomb (third-person singular simple present photobombs, present participle photobombing, simple past and past participle photobombed)

1. (transitive) To unexpectedly appear in a photograph, especially so as to ruin the picture.
   • 2010 September 6, Renato Gandia, “Labour Day rivalry rekindled among fans”, in Calgary Sun‎^[1], archived from the original on 10 September 2010:

     Edmonton Eskimos fans taunt a Calgary Stampeders mascot who photobombed their group photo. [image caption]

   • 2011 May 31, Ted Casablanca, John Boone, “Caught! Is Matthew Morrison Too Hot to Handle?”, in E! Online‎^[2]:

     Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet snuck into a few snapshots too, photobombing some of the other celebs and making funny faces.

   • 2012, Let's Go Budget Rome, Let's Go Publications, →ISBN, pages 57–58:

     Or you could just grab a beer from a side street cafe and photobomb the fountain pictures of unsuspecting tourists.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:photobomb.

Translations

to unexpectedly appear in a photograph

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 搶鏡／抢镜 (qiǎngjìng)

• Dutch: fotobommen (nl)
• Finnish: photobombata, tunkea itsensä kuvaan
• Hungarian: belemászik/belerondít/besétál/belelóg egy/a képbe, tönkretesz egy képet
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Noun

photobomb (plural photobombs)

1. An act of photobombing.
   • 2012 March 27, “Best photobomb EVER! Returning Navy sailor surprises grandmother by jumping in a photo on her birthday”, in Daily Mail‎^[3]:

     His^[sic] person who uploaded the video, who appears to be Ellis' father, wrote in his description that the photobomb was not the only surprise welcome they staged that day.

   • 2012 August 1, Lucy Carne, “John Coates' son photobombs the Queen at London Olympics Opening Ceremony”, in The Telegraph‎^[4], Sydney:

     Twitter was also filled with comments about the Queen photobomb.

2. A photo containing someone or something that is photobombing.
   • 2008 August 21, Burt Constable, “Phelps fatigue, feuds and flaps mean Olympics can't end soon enough”, in Daily Herald‎^[5]:

     Athletes are celebrated just for competing. Russian gymnast Anna Pavlova, who recorded an imperfect 0.00 for one of her vault attempts, could try to land a photobomb of herself mugging in the background of all those photos that will be taken of Phelps lugging around his gold.

   • 2012 October 9, Andrea Denhoed, “A Few Words About The Stingray Photobomb”, in The New Yorker‎^[6]:

     Today, the photo can be labelled a photobomb, which implies a narrative of surreptitious sabotage, connects the stingray to a whole tribe of obnoxious pranksters, and makes the ray look like his smile might contain a hint of frat-boyish dissolution.

Translations

a photo containing someone or something that is photobombing

• Afrikaans: fotobom (af)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 搶鏡／抢镜 (qiǎngjìng)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: fotobom (nl)
• Finnish: photobombaus, itsensä tunkeminen kuvaan
• French: photobomb (fr) m
• Malay: tunafoto
• Russian: фотобомба (ru) f (fotobomba)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• Photobombing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:Photobombing on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Spanish

Noun

photobomb m (plural photobombs)

1. photobomb