No no no. They’re like lasers, except with photons. Get it - phaser, photons. Oh, wait… Never mind. I got nuthin’.
My god. I’m older than I thought.
According to this book
The Making of Star Trek | Memory Alpha | Fandom ,
a phaser emits a beam of light similar to that of a laser but of a “phased” nature that interferes with the molecular pattern of the target.
In other words…
