paraffin
pronunciation
How to pronounce paraffin in British English:
UK [ˈpærəfɪn]
How to pronounce paraffin in American English:
US [ˈpærəfɪn]
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- Noun:
- from crude petroleum; used for candles and for preservative or waterproof coatings
- a non-aromatic saturated hydrocarbon with the general formula CnH(2n+2)
- British usage
Word Origin
- paraffin
- paraffin: [19] The term paraffin was coined in German around 1830 by the chemist Reichenbach. It was formed from Latin parum ‘little’ and affinis ‘related’ (source of English affinity), an allusion to the fact that paraffin is not closely related chemically to any other substance. The word is first recorded in English in 1838.=> affinity, fine
- paraffin (n.)
- 1838, from German Paraffin, coined c. 1830 by German chemist Karl von Reichenbach (1788-1869), who first obtained it as a waxy substance from wood tar, irregularly from Latin parum "not very, too little," probably related to parvus "little, small" (see parvi-) + affinis "associated with" (see affinity). So called because paraffin is chemically not closely related to other substances. The liquid form (originally parafin oil) Reichenbach called eupion, but this was the standard meaning of paraffin in English by 1860.
Example
- 1. Some folks , they use paraffin mixed with nitro .
- 2. The paraffin stove in the corner where she made coffee .
- 3. Tissues out : when the paraffin oven in the kitchen explodes , stig loses his wife and his daughter .
- 4. So I sent mutt to check with a little paraffin if there were powder marks on the elephant 's face and trunk .
- 5. Paraffin test to see if there were powder marks on his hand won 't mean anything because there will be anyway .