napalm
/ˈneɪ.pɑːm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.84 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "A trio of needle-nosed silver Phantom jets descended from the clouds and dropped a colossal load of napalm on the jungle. Flames turned the screen red and orange. Silence followed. “You smell that?” Kilgore said, almost to himself. Then, louder, “You smell that?” Lance, the champion surfer, asked “What?” Kilgore, lit by the glow of burning trees, retorted, “Napalm, son—nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed for 12 hours, and when it was all over I walked up; we didn’t find one of ’em … not one stinking dink body. But the smell—you know, that gasoline smell—the whole hill—it smelled like … victory.”"
- "Phuc was photographed aged nine as she ran, unclothed and screaming in agony, after napalm was dropped by a South Vietnamese Skyraider attack aircraft."
- "When leaked, the controversial documents proved to be political napalm."
- "sexual napalm"
Etymology
Etymology tree Akkadian napṭumbor.? Old Persian *naftahbor. Ancient Greek νάφθα (náphtha)bor. Latin naphthabor. English naphtha French -ènebor. English -ene English naphthene Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English na(phthenic) ▲ Spanish palmitocalq. Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-? Proto-Indo-European *pel-? Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂meh₂ Proto-Italic *palamā Latin palmader. Old French paumeder. ▲ Latin palmader. Middle French palme French palme Proto-Indo-European *-tósder. Ancient Greek -της (-tēs)der. Ancient Greek -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs)der. Latin -ītēslbor. French -ite French palmite ▲ English -ic English palm(itic) English napalm Formed from na(phthenic) palm(itic) acid, the two original components of the substance.