 The concept of a "picture element" dates to the earliest days of television, for example as ""Bildpunkt"" (the German word for "pixel", literally 'picture point') in the 1888 German patent of Paul Nipkow.According to various etymologies, the earliest publication of the term "picture element" itself was in "Wireless World" magazine in 1927, though it had been used earlier in various U.S. patents filed as early as 1911.Some authors explain "pixel" as "picture cell," as early as 1972.