Etymology tree
Latin sulpur
Latin sulfur
Latin sulphur
Anglo-Norman sulfrebor.
Middle English sulphur
English sulfur
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.
Meanings
Of a yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur.
Having a characteristic sulfur-like smell, reminiscent of rotten eggs.
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. 2023 May 2, Rachel Gutman-Wei, “Beware the Ozempic Burp”, in The Atlantic:
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
more sulfur
Degree=Cmp
lexicographic
most sulfur
Degree=Sup
lexicographic
sulphur
alternative
lexicographic
Translations (7)
fr soufre (colour) · ja 硫黄色の (colour) · io sulfea (colour) · hu kénsárga (colour) · it sulfureo (colour) · fi rikinkeltainen (colour) · ko 유황색의 (colour)
Etymology tree
Latin sulpur
Latin sulfur
Latin sulphur
Anglo-Norman sulfrebor.
Middle English sulphur
English sulfur
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.
Meanings
(uncountable, usually) A chemical element with atomic number 16, having a bright yellow color and characteristic smell, used commercially in a variety of products such as insecticides, black powder, and matchsticks.
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. 2003, Cory Doctorow, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Tor Books:
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. 1907, Herbert M. Vaughan, The Naples Riviera:
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! 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):
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. 2015 February 25, Kevin McElvaney, “Inside Indonesia's Ijen Volcano”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 06 Mar 2016:
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: 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:
(uncountable, usually) A chemical element with atomic number 16, having a bright yellow color and characteristic smell, used commercially in a variety of products such as insecticides, black powder, and matchsticks. ▸ The element symbolically associated with hellfire or damnation, or in alchemy, the fiery principle present in all things.
“She shall be blasted like a riven oak! Drowned in sulphur! Torn by whirlwinds!” 1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 68:
(countable, uncountable, usually) A yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur.
(uncountable, usually) Any of various pierid butterflies of the subfamily Coliadinae, especially the sulfur-coloured species.
Etymology tree
Latin sulpur
Latin sulfur
Latin sulphur
Anglo-Norman sulfrebor.
Middle English sulphur
English sulfur
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.
Meanings
(transitive) To treat with sulfur, or a sulfur compound, especially to preserve or to counter agricultural pests.
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
sulphur
alternative
lexicographic
sulfured
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
sulfured
Tense=Past
lexicographic
sulfuring
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
sulfurs
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
Relateds
thionic (other entries of interest) · gypsum (other entries of interest) · gunpowder (other entries of interest) · methionine (other entries of interest) · sodium dithionate (other entries of interest) · cinnabar (other entries of interest) · thi- (other entries of interest) · stibnite (other entries of interest) · acid rain (other entries of interest) · galena (other entries of interest) · Epsom salts (other entries of interest) · alunite (other entries of interest) · thiolate (other entries of interest) · heparin (other entries of interest) · pyrite (other entries of interest) · sodium dithionite (other entries of interest) · sphalerite (other entries of interest) · mercaptan (other entries of interest) · polythionic acid (other entries of interest) · dithionous acid (other entries of interest) · oleum (other entries of interest) · cysteine (other entries of interest) · barite (other entries of interest) · Lawesson's reagent (other entries of interest) · thio- (other entries of interest) · thiol (other entries of interest)
Translations (10)
io sulfizar (treat with sulfur) · ro sulfurare (treat with sulfur) · fi rikittää (treat with sulfur) · io sulfagar (treat with sulfur) · it solforare (treat with sulfur) · sv svavla (treat with sulfur) · da svovle (treat with sulfur) · ca ensofrar (treat with sulfur) · es azufrar (treat with sulfur) · gl enxofrar (treat with sulfur)