Google
 

AllWords.com Home

English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search

 
 
Complete Definition of "alchemy"

English

Etymology
From OF. term|alkemie|langfro, term|arquemie|langfro (French term|alchimie|langfr) < ML. term|alkimia|langla < Arab. term|scARchar|كيمياء|الكيمياء|tral-kīmiyā’|langar < AGr. term|scpolytonic|χημεία|langgrc or term|scpolytonic|χυμεία|trchēmeia or chymeia|langgrc originally “a mingling, infusion, juice, liquid, especially as extracted from plants” and later “alchemy” < perhaps both term|scpolytonic|Χημία|trChēmia||black earth (ancient name for Egypt)|langgrc and term|scpolytonic|χυμός|langgrc|trchymos||juice, sap. (Compare Spanish term|alquimia|langes and Italian term|alchimia|langit).

Pronunciation
audio|en-us-alchemy.ogg|Audio (US)

Noun
en-noun|alchemies

  1. obsolete Chemistry and in particular pharmaceutical chemistry (as practised in the Middle Ages); searching for a panacea.
  2. The speculative medieval philosophical art of changing objects from one element into another, principally (historically) attempting to turn lead and other base metals into gold; pseudo-science.
  3. The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.
  4. context|computing|slang Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.

Derived terms
alchemical
alchemist
alchemistic

Translations
trans-top|chemistry searching for panacea
Chinese: 煉金術, 炼金术 (liàn jīn shù)
Croatian: t-|hr|alkemija|f
Finnish: t-|fi|alkemia
French: t+|fr|alchimie|f
German: t+|de|Alchemie|f
trans-mid
Greek: t|el|αλχημεία|f|tralchimeía|scGrek
Japanese: 錬金術 (れんきんじゅつ, renkinjutsu), 黄金術 (おうごんじゅつ, ōgonjutsu), 煉丹術 (れんたんじゅつ, rentanjutsu)
trans-bottom

trans-top|chemistry searching for method to turn cheap metals to gold
Chinese: t|cmn|鍊金術|scHani|xsMandarin, 炼金术 (liàn jīn shù)
Croatian: t-|hr|alkemija|f
Finnish: t-|fi|alkemia
French: t+|fr|alchimie|f
trans-mid
German: t+|de|Alchemie|f
Greek: t|el|αλχημεία|f|tralchimeía|scGrek
Japanese: 錬金術 (れんきんじゅつ, renkinjutsu), 黄金術 (おうごんじゅつ, ōgonjutsu), 煉丹術 (れんたんじゅつ, rentanjutsu)
trans-bottom

trans-top|causing of mysterious transmutation
Croatian: t-|hr|alkemija|f
French: t+|fr|alchimie|f
trans-mid
trans-bottom

checktrans-top
ttbc|Arabic: Arab|كيمياء|الكيمياء (al-kīmiyā’) f
ttbc|Catalan: alquímia f
ttbc|Dutch: alchemie f
ttbc|Hebrew: אלכימיה|אַלְכִּימְיָה (alkimiya) f
ttbc|Hungarian: alkímia
ttbc|Indonesian: alkimia
ttbc|Italian: alchimia f
trans-mid
ttbc|Korean: 연금술 (yeon-geumsul)
ttbc|Latin: alchemia f
ttbc|Lithuanian: alchemija f
ttbc|Portuguese: alquimia f
ttbc|Spanish: alquimia f
ttbc|Swedish: alkemi
trans-bottom

See also
elixir of life
philosophers' stone|philosophers’ stone

References
R:Webster 1913|alchemy
R:Online Etymology Dictionary|alchemy
pedialite

Category:Alchemy|

ar:alchemy
el:alchemy
fr:alchemy
io:alchemy
hu:alchemy
ro:alchemy
fi:alchemy
vi:alchemy

Revision and Credits for"alchemy"
Dictionary content provided from Wiktionary.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License
 
 

 Find:
  Words Starting With:
  Words Ending With:
  Words Containing:
  Words That Match:

 
 Translate Into:
  
Dutch   French   German
  
Italian   Spanish
    Show results per page.


Browse the Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 
  

   
Allwords Copyright 1998-2012 Allsites LLC. All rights reserved.