phlogiston
/flə(ʊ)ˈd͡ʒɪstɒn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.71 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "[…] air was universally reputed to be a simple or elementary body. It was liable, according to the phlogistians, to vitiation, by the addition to it of phlogiston[…] being more or less phlogisticated, according to the degree of its power to support respiration and combustion."
- "Stahl argued that phlogiston could explain combustion, a central concern of eighteenth-century chemistry."
Etymology
From New Latin phlogiston, coined by Georg Ernst Stahl in 1702, from Ancient Greek φλογιστόν (phlogistón), neuter of φλογιστός (phlogistós, “burnt up, inflammable”), from φλογίζω (phlogízō, “to set fire to”), from φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: phlogiston, φλογιστόν