charcoal
UK/ˈtʃɑː.kəʊl//ˈt͡ʃɑɹ.koʊl/
charcoal noun: impure carbon obtained by destructive distillation of wood or other organic matter, that is, heating it in the absence of oxygen.
Noun
charcoal (usually uncountable, plural charcoals)
- impure carbon obtained by destructive distillation of wood or other organic matter, that is, heating it in the absence of oxygen.
- The grate was laid with charcoal, to that she put a light, and then, as if she had forgotten something, hurried to the library, and carefully locked the door. First returning to see that the fire had kindled, she then went to the window, which, with the first gleam of moonlight, she cautiously...1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 325–326
- But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion
- A stick of black carbon material used for drawing.
- He takes the prepared charcoal used by artists, brings it to a white heat, and suddenly plunges it in a bath of mercury, of which the globules instantly penetrate the pores of charcoal, and may be said to metallize it.1879, Th Du Moncel, The Telephone, the Microphone and the Phonograph, page 166
- A drawing made with charcoal.
- A very dark gray colour.
Adjective
charcoal (comparative more charcoal, superlative most charcoal)
- Of a dark gray colour.
- Two vultures […] stood silent side by side like smoking coworkers on break, one charcoal eye staring back at me indifferently.2020, “Zoo”, in Still at the Rough Cusp of Renaissance, performed by Good Fuck
- Made of charcoal.
- But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion
Verb
charcoal (third-person singular simple present charcoals, present participle charcoaling, simple past and past participle charcoaled)
charcoal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
charcoal in Hindi
- substance
- चारकोल cārkol, लकड़ी का कोयला lakṛī kā koylā, काठकोयला kāṭhkoylā
charcoal in Tamil
- substance
- கரி kari
charcoal in Urdu
- کوالہ
charcoal in Bengali
- charcoal, ember, carbon
- অঙ্গার oṅgar
More languagesFewer languages
- charcoal in Telugu
- అంగారకము aṅgārakamu, అంగారము aṅgāramu
- charcoal in Malayalam
- കരി kari
- charcoal in Kannada
- ಇದ್ದಿಲು iddilu
- charcoal in Punjabi
- ਅੰਗਾਰ aṅgār, ਕੋਇਲਾ koilā
- charcoal in Odia
- କାଠକଯ଼ଲା
- charcoal in Sanskrit
- अङ्गार aṅgāra
- charcoal in Assamese
- এঙাৰ eṅar
- charcoal in Nepali
- चारकोल, चार्कोलिङ, चार्कोलिंग
- charcoal in Pashto
- ذغال zǧāl
- charcoal in Tagalog
- uling
- charcoal in Arabic
- فَحْم الْخَشَب faḥm al-ḵašab
- charcoal in Malay
- arang
- charcoal in Indonesian
- arang
- charcoal in Persian
- ذغال zoġâl, سکار sakâr, زغال zoġâl, انگشت angešt
- charcoal in Thai
- ถ่านไม้ tàan-máai, ถ่าน tàan
- charcoal in Vietnamese
- than gỗ, than củi
- charcoal in Myanmar
- မီးသွေး mi:swe:
Examples of charcoal in a sentence
- Acrylics, oils, charcoal, and gouache are all mediums I used in my painting.
- Black powder consists of an intimate mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur.
- My toaster is on the blink, making either charcoal or cold bread.
Forms of charcoal
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | charcoals |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more charcoal |
| superlative | most charcoal |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | charcoals |
| present participle | charcoaling |
| past participle | charcoaled |
| past | charcoaled |
Origin of charcoal
From Middle English charcole, from charren (“to change, turn”) + cole (“coal”), from Old English cierran (“to change, turn”) + col (“coal”). By surface analysis, char (Etymology 3 [verb]) + coal.
Words formed from charcoal
Phrases with charcoal
Questions about charcoal
- What does charcoal mean?
- Charcoal means impure carbon obtained by destructive distillation of wood or other organic matter, that is, heating it in the absence of oxygen.
- What is charcoal in Hindi?
- Charcoal in Hindi is चारकोल (cārkol), लकड़ी का कोयला (lakṛī kā koylā), काठकोयला (kāṭhkoylā). See Charcoal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is charcoal?
- Charcoal can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce charcoal?
- Charcoal is pronounced /ˈtʃɑː.kəʊl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of charcoal?
- The plural of charcoal is charcoals.
Words near charcoal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: charcoal (page history and authors); charcoal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অঙ্গার (Bengali) (page history and authors); అంగారకము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ਅੰਗਾਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); charcoal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); charcoal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-charcoal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “charcoal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/charcoal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.