salamander
/ˈsæləˌmændɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.76 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A long, slender, chiefly terrestrial amphibian of the order Caudata, superficially resembling a lizard.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A creature much like a lizard that is resistant to and lives in fire (in which it is often depicted in heraldry), hence the elemental being of fire.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A metal utensil with a flat head which is heated and put over a dish to brown the top.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "[…]and most plainly Pierius, whose words in his hieroglyphicks are these: "Whereas it is commonly said that a salamander extinguisheth fire, we have found by experience that it is so far from quenching hot coals, that it dyeth immediately therein.""
- "Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies.[…]The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota."
- "“Not a chance, Ranger,” Bob Mason was speaking. “This little cuss is a salamander. He's been travelling through fire all day and there isn't a blister on him. …”"
- ""There is a vulgar error," says the author of the Brief Natural History, p. 91, "that a salamander lives in the fire. Yet both Galen and Dioscorides refute this opinion; and Mathiolus, in his Commentaries upon Dioscorides, a very famous physician, affirms of them, that by casting of many a salamander into the fire for tryal he found it false. The same experiment is likewise avouched by Joubertus.""
- "The salamander, a fairly long metal utensil with a flat rounded head, was left in the fire until red hot and then used to brown the top of a dish without further cooking."
- "The chef first put the steak under the salamander to sear the outside."
Etymology
From Middle English salamandre, from Anglo-Norman salamandre, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα (salamándra), of uncertain origin (per Beekes, likely Pre-Greek); possibly of Iranian origin, see Persian سمندر (samandar) for more information.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: salamandre, salamandra, σαλαμάνδρα, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsæləˌmændɚ/
- British English: /ˈsæləˌmændə/