phlogiston
/flə(ʊ)ˈd͡ʒɪstɒn/
phlogiston noun: the hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning.
Noun
phlogiston (usually uncountable, plural phlogistons)
- The hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning.
- […] 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.1810, George Wilson, M.D., F.R.D.E., “General Sketch of Cavendish's Scientific Researches and Discoveries”, in The Life of the Honᵇˡᵉ Henry Cavendish, page 39
- Stahl argued that phlogiston could explain combustion, a central concern of eighteenth-century chemistry.2006, Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, Arrow 2007, page 397
phlogiston meaning in Tamil
phlogiston in Tamil
- புளோசித்தன், ஃபிளாஜிஸ்ட்டன்
Forms of phlogiston
| plural | phlogistons |
|---|
Origin of phlogiston
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”).
Words formed from phlogiston
Questions about phlogiston
- What does phlogiston mean?
- Phlogiston means the hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning.
- What is phlogiston in Tamil?
- Phlogiston in Tamil is புளோசித்தன், ஃபிளாஜிஸ்ட்டன். See Phlogiston meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is phlogiston?
- Phlogiston is a noun.
- How do you pronounce phlogiston?
- Phlogiston is pronounced /flə(ʊ)ˈd͡ʒɪstɒn/.
- What is the plural of phlogiston?
- The plural of phlogiston is phlogistons.
Words near phlogiston in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: phlogiston (page history and authors); phlogiston (Tamil Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-phlogiston.oga.
Cite this entry: “phlogiston.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/phlogiston. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.