Being taught to spell it "lens", (no extra "e") I've always been bugged by people spelling the word with the extra "e" on the end - as in "lense".
I'm a bit of an old school stickler for correct spelling, so being typical me I've just looked up the word "lens" in numerous sources around the globe - including British, Australian and American dictionaries just to make sure.
It seems that both can be... well... right, at least to some degree. According to some dictionaries both instances are correct. Far more spelling it without the extra "e" I noticed though. It doesn't seem to be related to which side of the world the dictionary comes from either, as you might expect. Blew me away I must say.
While I was looking for these definitions I also came across the following:
Quote:
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[Origin: 1685–95; < NL, special use of L léns a lentil (from its shape); see lentil]
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So the term "lens" (or "lense" if you must) comes from the convex shape of the humble lentil bean.
How cool!