phosphor
UK/ˈfɒsfə//ˈfɑsfɚ/
phosphor noun: any of various compounds of transition metals or of rare earths that exhibit phosphorescence.
Noun
phosphor (countable and uncountable, plural phosphors)
- Any of various compounds of transition metals or of rare earths that exhibit phosphorescence.
- Phosphorus.
- The planet Venus, when appearing as a morning star
Proper noun capitalized: Phosphor
Phosphor
- Alternative spelling of Phosphorus (“the planet Venus, as the morning star”).
- All night no ruder air perplex
Thy sliding keel, till Phosphor, bright
As our pure love, thro’ early light
Shall glimmer on the dewy decks.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC - Anna likened you to Phosphor, the morning star, and herself to Hesper, the mortal star of evening, and when I told her those twin stars were one and the same, and not a star at all but the planet Venus,[…]1960, John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, →OCLC, page 518
- All night no ruder air perplex
Forms of phosphor
| plural | phosphors |
|---|---|
| alternative form (archaic) | phosphore |
Origin of phosphor
From Medieval Latin phosphorus.
Words formed from phosphor
- hexamethylphosphoramide
- nanophosphor
- phosphoramidate
- phosphoramide
- phosphoramidite
- phosphorana
- phosphorane
- phosphorate
- phosphor bronze
- phosphor copper
- phosphoremia
- phosphoresce
- phosphorgummite
- phosphorian
- phosphorical
- phosphoriferous
- phosphorimager
- phosphorimaging
- phosphorimetry
- phosphorine
- phosphorise
- phosphorism
- Phosphorist
- phosphorite
- phosphorization
- phosphorize
- phosphorless
- phosphorogenic
- phosphorolysis
- phosphorolytic
- phosphoroscope
- phosphorthioate
- phosphor tin
- phosphoruria
- phosphoryl
- phosphor zinc
Phrases with phosphor
Questions about phosphor
- What does phosphor mean?
- Phosphor means any of various compounds of transition metals or of rare earths that exhibit phosphorescence.
- What part of speech is phosphor?
- Phosphor can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce phosphor?
- Phosphor is pronounced /ˈfɒsfə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of phosphor?
- The plural of phosphor is phosphors.
Words near phosphor in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: phosphor (page history and authors); Phosphor (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-phosphor.wav.
Cite this entry: “phosphor.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/phosphor. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.