phlegm
/flɛm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.58 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One of the four humors making up the body in ancient and mediaeval medicine; said to be cold and moist, and often identified with mucus.
Uncountable
noun
Viscid mucus produced by the body, later especially mucus expelled from the bronchial passages by coughing.
Uncountable
noun
A watery distillation, especially one obtained from plant matter; an aqueous solution.
Uncountable
noun
Calmness of temperament, composure; also seen negatively, sluggishness, indifference.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Each person's unique mixture of these substances determines his temperament: a predominance of blood gives a sanguine temperament; a predominance of phlegm makes one phlegmatic; yellow bile, bilious (or choleric); and black bile, melancholic."
- "Even some members of the new bourgeoisie indulge in conspicuously boorish behavior, like hawking phlegm onto the pavement or picking their noses at business meetings."
- "The attempts made to analyse vegetable substances previous to 1720, merely produced their resolution into the supposed elements of the chemists of those days, namely, salts, Earths, phlegm, and sulphur."
- "Orloff's phlegm broke completely, and he snatched at the monocle as it dropped[.]"
- "But Swedish Nazis also talked of the necessity of saving Sweden from Bolshevism, and with the menacing Berlin radio gnawing in their ears many Swedes lost their Scandinavian phlegm."
Etymology
From Middle English flewme, fleume, fleme, from Old French fleume, Middle French flemme (French flegme), and their source, Latin phlegma, from Ancient Greek φλέγμα (phlégma, “flame; inflammation; clammy humor in the body”), from φλέγειν (phlégein, “to burn”). Possible burning sensation when coughing up phlegm. Compare phlox, flagrant, flame, bleak (adjective), fulminate. Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots. The regularly developed form /fliːm/ has been displaced by a pronunciation /flɛm/ of uncertain provenance. It may be inherited, though some kind of learned or spelling pronunciation or influence from phlegmatic is also conceivable.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: flewme, fleume, flemme, phlegma, φλέγμα
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /flɛm/
- British English: /flɛm/