How do you pronounce phlegmatic?

The recorded pronunciation is /flɛɡˈmætɪk/.

Where does phlegmatic come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

phlegmatic

/flɛɡˈmætɪk/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.07 in modern English

Syllables: phleg-mat-ic
IPA: /flɛɡˈmætɪk/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Not easily excited to action or passion; calm; sluggish.

adj

Generating, causing, or full of phlegm.

noun

One who has a phlegmatic disposition.

Example Sentences

"Calm and phlegmatic, with a clear eye, Mr. Fogg seemed a perfect type of that English composure which Angelica Kauffmann has so skilfully represented on canvas."
"His head was bare, and though he moved with the speed we have mentioned, the Knight of the Sorrowful Face saw and noted all these details; he tried to follow him but could not because it was beyond the strength of Rocinante to travel that rugged ground, especially since he was by nature slow-paced and phlegmatic."
"2013, A.O. Scott, “How It Looks to Think: Watch Her,” Rev. of Hannah Arendt, dir. by Margarethe von Trotta, New York Times 29 May 2013: C1. Print. Their friendship (immortalized in a splendid volume of letters that has clearly served as one of Ms. von Trotta's sources) is a fascinating study in cultural and temperamental contrast, an impulsive and witty American paired with a steady, phlegmatic German."
"cold and phlegmatic bodies"
"Near-synonyms: phlegmish, phlegmy"
"phlegmatic humors"

Etymology

From Middle English fleumatik, flewmatik, flematik, fleumatyke, flewmatyk, from Old French fleumatique, from Latin phlegmaticus, from Ancient Greek φλεγματικός (phlegmatikós), from φλέγμα (phlégma), referring to the humour which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with mildness, coldness, sluggishness, and indifference. Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots, with modern pronunciation following this new spelling.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: fleumatik, fleumatique, phlegmaticus, φλεγματικός

Inflected Forms

more phlegmatic (comparative) most phlegmatic (superlative) phlegmatick (alternative) phlegmaticke (alternative) phlegmatique (alternative) phlegmatics (plural)

Derived Forms

apophlegmatic leucophlegmatic sanguineophlegmatic unphlegmatic

Frequently Paired Words

phlegm phlegmatically phlegmish phlegmy choleric melancholic sanguine

Synonyms

apathetic cold-blooded phlegmish unflappable stoic adiaphroistic apathistical blasé blithe deaf cool shiftless

Rhymes With

democratic dramatic automatic diplomatic static problematic systematic traumatic post-traumatic attic cinematic pragmatic