asphalt
pronunciation
How to pronounce asphalt in British English:
UK [ˈæsfælt]
How to pronounce asphalt in American English:
US [ˈæsfɔlt]
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- Noun:
- mixed asphalt and crushed gravel or sand; used especially for paving but also for roofing
- a dark bituminous substance found in natural beds and as residue from petroleum distillation; consists mainly of hydrocarbons
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- Verb:
- cover with tar or asphalt
Word Origin
- asphalt
- asphalt: [14] The ultimate source of asphalt is Greek ásphalton, but when it first came into English it was with the p that had developed in late Latin aspaltus: aspalte. The ph of the original Greek form began to be reintroduced in the 18th century.
- asphalt (n.)
- early 14c., "hard, resinous mineral pitch found originally in Biblical lands," from Late Latin asphaltum, from Greek asphaltos "asphalt, bitumen," probably from a non-Greek source, possibly Semitic [Klein, citing Lewy, 1895]. Another theory holds it to be from Greek a- "not" + *sphaltos "able to be thrown down," taken as verbal adjective of sphallein "to throw down," in reference to a use of the material in building. Meaning "paving composition" dates from 1847 and its popular use in this sense established the modern form of the English word, displacing in most senses asphaltum, asphaltos. As a verb meaning "to cover with asphalt," from 1872. Related: Asphaltic.
Example
- 1. Most are built of brick and roofed with asphalt .
- 2. These mirrors are cruel and smooth as asphalt .
- 3. She sat on the asphalt and opened the wooden box .
- 4. He flicked his cigarette butt down onto the asphalt of route 799 .
- 5. A road with beautifully laid asphalt is seen behind the barrier .