flashed

Flashed is the past tense and past participle of the verb flash. It describes something that has emitted a brief burst of light or has been illuminated suddenly and briefly. In technical contexts, flashed can also refer to writing data to non-volatile flash memory, or to installing firmware onto a device by writing to its flash storage.

In photography and lighting, a flash is a device that produces a short, bright burst of light to illuminate a scene. A photograph or scene may be described as flashed when a flash unit fires to expose the subject, influencing exposure, color, and shadows. Both built-in camera flashes and external flash units are designed to synchronize with the camera shutter.

In computing and electronics, flashing refers to programming flash memory. To flash a device means to write new firmware or software to its non-volatile storage, such as BIOS in personal computers, router firmware, or firmware in embedded controllers. The process may require a bootloader, specialized software, or operating system utilities, and an interruption during flashing can corrupt memory and render a device inoperable until recovery.

Flashed memory is a common term in consumer electronics, where flash storage provides persistent data retention. The concept also appears in telecommunications, automotive electronics, and other fields that rely on firmware updates or rapid light signals. Overall, flashed denotes either a momentary light event or the act of writing data to flash memory, depending on the context.