Wiktionary

chemistry

English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Wikiversity has a lecture on

Wikiversity

Etymology

edit

First coined 1605, from chemist +‎ -ry. From chemist, chymist, from Latin alchimista, from Arabic اَلْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from article اَل (al-) + Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeía, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χυμός (khumós, “juice”), from χέω (khéō, “I pour”).

Pronunciation

edit
  • enPR: kĕm'ĭstrē, IPA(key): /ˈkɛm.ɪ.stɹi/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

edit

chemistry (countable and uncountable, plural chemistries)

  2. (uncountable) The branch of natural science that deals with the composition and constitution of substances and the changes that they undergo as a consequence of alterations in the constitution of their molecules.
  3. (countable) An application of chemical theory and method to a particular substance.
    • 1979 December 29, Tia Cross, “Lesbian Family Album”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 23, page 14:
      Learning the very complicated chemistries necessary to reproduce reality into a picture using light
    • 1984, North American Lake Management Society, Lake and Reservoir Management: Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference, page 250:
      The aquatic chemistries of iron and manganese are similar; this “is reflected geologically in their common association in rocks of all kinds” (Bortleson and Lee, 1974).
  4. The chemical properties and reactions of a particular organism, environment etc.
    • 2022 September 29, Carl Zimmer, “A New Approach to Spotting Tumors: Look for Their Microbes”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      But some microbes manage to move to new organs to get inside tumors. It’s possible that the particular chemistry inside a tumor, such as its level of oxygen, helps determine which microbes will thrive there.
  5. (informal) The mutual attraction between two people; rapport.
    The on-screen chemistry between the lead actors led many viewers to believe they were a couple in real life.
    The coach attributed their losses to poor team chemistry.
    • 2019 February 25, Brett Dawson, Fred Katz, “How power forward Markieff Morris might fit in with the Thunder”, in The Athletic‎[2]:
      He and [Dennis] Schröder developing pick-and-roll chemistry will certainly be an objective. [Markieff] Morris has a tendency to linger around the mid-range area after setting ball screens, but when he’s popping beyond the 3-point line, he can hurt defenses.
  6. (medicine, countable, informal, sometimes proscribed) A blood test to measure the amount of various components of the serum (such as electrolytes, creatinine, and glucose).
    Coordinate term: serology
    Diagnosis is presumptive by history and physical examination and is confirmed by chemistries.

Usage notes

edit
  • Historical note: This word and its derivatives were formerly spelled chy- or sometimes chi- (i.e., chymistry, chymist, chymical, etc., or chimistry, chimist, chimical, etc.) with pronunciation depending on the spelling.
  • Chymistry is now sometimes used specifically to refer to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century chemistry, when it was not yet fully distinct from alchemy.

Meronyms

edit

Derived terms

edit
edit

Translations

edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=chemistry&oldid=82524784"