Word.ws English Dictionary

alcahest

UK/ˈal.kə.hɛst/

alcahest is the rare spelling of alkahest.

Meaning of alkahest

Noun

alkahest (countable and uncountable, plural alkahests)

  1. (historical) A universal solvent sought by the alchemists.
    • This perspective stimulated the alchemical quest for a ‘universal solvent’, that would dissolve and homogenize all substances – a solvent that Paracelsus named the alkahest.2006, Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, Arrow, published 2007, page 267

Forms of alcahest

pluralalcahests

Origin of alcahest

Borrowed from Late Latin alcahest, apparently coined by Paracelsus as a pseudo-Arabism.

Questions about alcahest

What is alcahest the rare spelling of?
Alcahest is the rare spelling of alkahest.
How do you pronounce alcahest?
Alcahest is pronounced /ˈal.kə.hɛst/ (UK).

Words near alcahest in the dictionary

  1. alc.
  2. alcade
  3. alcades
  4. Alcaeus
  5. alcaftadine
  6. alcahest
  7. alcahests
  8. Alcaic
  9. Alcaic verse
  10. Alcaics
  11. alcaid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alcahest (page history and authors); alkahest (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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