The word `` picture element '' is even older . For example , the German word Bildpunkt ( which means `` picture point '' ) was used in a 1888 patent of Paul Gottlieb Nipkow . 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 .