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sulfur

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Sulfur and sülfür

English

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 Sulfur (disambiguation) on Wikipedia
Chemical element
S
Previous: phosphorus (P)
Next: chlorine (Cl)
Spectacular native sulfur crystals
Sulfur as an element usually is encountered as a fine powder or irregular lumps.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English sulphur, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sulfre, from Latin sulfur, from sulpur itself of uncertain origin. Displaced Old English swefl and largely displaced brimstone.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsʌl.fə/
  • (US) enPR: sŭl'fər, IPA(key): /ˈsʌl.fɚ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: sul‧fur

Noun

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sulfur (usually uncountable, plural sulfurs)

  2. (uncountable) A chemical element (symbol S) with an atomic number of 16, having a bright yellow color and characteristic smell, used commercially in a variety of products such as insecticides, black powder, and matchsticks.
    Synonym: (archaic, not in technical usage) brimstone
    Hypernym: chalcogen
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:
      A Dungeon horrible, on all ſides round / As one great Furnace flam’d, yet from thoſe flames / No light, but rather darkneſs viſible / […] but torture without end / Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed / With ever-burning Sulphur unconſum’d:
    • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter 1, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book I (Death of Louis XV):
      Sure only that man is mortal; that with the life of one mortal snaps irrevocably the wonderfulest talisman, and all Dubarrydom rushes off, with tumult, into infinite Space; and ye, as subterranean Apparitions are wont, vanish utterly,—leaving only a smell of sulphur!
    • 1907, Herbert M. Vaughan, The Naples Riviera‎[1]:
      Scarcely had these manifestations ceased at Ustica, than Vesuvius began to show signs of increased activity; the supplies in the wells on the mountain sides began to fail, and there was observed a strong taste of sulphur in the drinking water; whilst—most dreaded phenomenon of all—the ever-active crater of Stromboli, that lies midway between Naples and Messina, suddenly lapsed into quiescence.
    • 2003, Cory Doctorow, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom‎[2], Tor Books:
      It went like this: first, we were cavemen, then there was ancient Greece, then Rome burned (cue sulfur-odor FX), then there was the Great Depression, and, finally, we reached the modern age.
    • 2015 February 25, Kevin McElvaney, “Inside Indonesia's Ijen Volcano”, in The Atlantic‎[3]:
      Local workers hike up the side of the mountain and down into the crater at the top to harvest its sulfur—a byproduct of the gas that escapes from the volcano’s vents and collects near the shores of an acidic lake at the crater’s center. The chemical is used in industry worldwide, from making matchsticks to vulcanizing rubber, but Ijen’s sulfur goes mostly to local factories, which use it to bleach sugar.
  3. (countable, uncountable) A yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur.
    sulfur:  
  4. Any of various pierid butterflies of the subfamily Coliadinae, especially the sulfur-coloured species.
    Coordinate term: yellow

Derived terms

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terms derived from sulfur (noun)
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terms related to sulfur (noun)

Translations

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Adjective

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sulfur (comparative more sulfur, superlative most sulfur)

  1. Of a yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur.
  2. Having a characteristic sulfur-like smell, reminiscent of rotten eggs.
    • 2023 May 2, Rachel Gutman-Wei, “Beware the Ozempic Burp”, in The Atlantic‎[4]:
      On the November morning when the sulfur burps began, Derron Borders was welcoming prospective students at the graduate school where he works in New York. […] Sulfur burps appear to be a somewhat rare side effect of semaglutide, tirzepatide, and other drugs in their class, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Translations

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Verb

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sulfur (third-person singular simple present sulfurs, present participle sulfuring, simple past and past participle sulfured)

  1. (transitive) To treat with sulfur, or a sulfur compound, especially to preserve or to counter agricultural pests.

Translations

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See also

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other entries of interest

Further reading

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Albanian

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Albanian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sq

Noun

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sulfur m (plural sulfure, definite sulfuri, definite plural sulfuret)

  1. (chemistry) sulfur

Declension

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Declension of sulfur
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative sulfur sulfuri sulfure sulfuret
accusative sulfurin
dative sulfuri sulfurit sulfureve sulfureve
ablative sulfuresh

Further reading

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  • FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[6], 1980

Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin sulfur; doublet of the inherited sofre.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sulfur m (plural sulfurs)

  1. sulfide, sulphide

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Cornish

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Chemical element
S
Previous: fosforos (P)
Next: klorin (Cl)

Etymology

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Borrowed from English sulfur.

Noun

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sulfur m

  1. sulfur
    Synonym: loskven

Danish

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Etymology

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Ultimately borrowed from Latin sulfur; cf. English sulfur.

Noun

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sulfur

  1. (obsolete) sulphur
    • 1855, Tidsskrift for populære fremstillinger af naturvidenskaben, page 379:
      ... men meget snart gik man bort fra disse bestemte Stoffer, og Sulfur og Mercurius gik nu fra at være  ...
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1896, Alfred Georg Ludvig Lehmann, Overtro og trolddom fra de æeldste tider til vore dage:
      ... forskellige Stoffer adskilte sig kun fra hinanden derved, at de indeholdt forskellige Mængder af Sulfur og Merkurius; ...
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1918, Det Kongelige Danske videnskabernes selskabs skrifter: Naturvidenskabelig og mathematisk afdeling:
      Thi Agerjord er ikke andet end brændbare Bestanddele (Sulfur) og Alkali (sal fixum), ...
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Synonyms

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Indonesian

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Chemical element
S
Previous: fosforus (P)
Next: klorin (Cl)

Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin sulfur.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sulfur (plural sulfur-sulfur)

  1. (chemistry) sulfur
    Synonym: belerang

Further reading

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Latin

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Latin Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia la
Chemical element
S
Previous: phosphorus (P)
Next: chlorum (Cl)

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Hellenization of sulpur, of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sulfur n (genitive sulfuris); third declension

  1. sulfur, brimstone
  2. lightning

Declension

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Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

singular plural
nominative sulfur sulfura
genitive sulfuris sulfurum
dative sulfurī sulfuribus
accusative sulfur sulfura
ablative sulfure sulfuribus
vocative sulfur sulfura

References

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  • “sulfur”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “sulfur”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “sulfur”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Malay

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Chemical element
S
Previous: fosforus (P)
Next: klorin (Cl)

Etymology

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Borrowed from English sulfur, from Middle English, from Anglo-Norman sulfre, from Latin sulfur.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sulfur (Jawi spelling سولفور, plural sulfur-sulfur)

  1. sulfur (element)
    Synonym: belerang
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