Prussian
pronunciation
How to pronounce Prussian in British English:
UK [ˈprʌʃən]
How to pronounce Prussian in American English:
US [ˈprʌʃən]
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- Noun:
- a German inhabitant of Prussia
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- Adjective:
- of or relating to or characteristic of Prussia or its inhabitants
Word Origin
- Prussian
- 1550s (n.), 1560s (adj.), from Prussia + -an. Prussian blue pigment (1724) came to English from French bleu de Prusse, so called for being discovered in Berlin, the Prussian capital. All in all, it seems that Prussian blue was synthesised for the first time around 1706 by the Swiss immigrant Johann Jacob Diesbach in Berlin. [Jens Bartoll and Bärbel Jackisch, "Prussian Blue: A Chronology of the Early Years," "Zeitschrift für Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung" 24, No. 1, 2010] Early German sources refer to it as Preußisches Ultra-Marin and berliner blau. Prussic acid (1790), is from French acide prussique, so called in reference to prussian blue pigment, to which it is chemically related.
Example
- 1. Otto von bismarck , a prussian chancellor , used his to tamp down the tobacco in his pipe .
- 2. Marx was an educated prussian married to a baron 's daughter .
- 3. One politician praised him as " a prussian from southern europe " .
- 4. By age 20 he was already running a plant producing ammonium chloride and prussian blue dye .
- 5. East prussian was an exclave of germany .