soot
pronunciation
How to pronounce soot in British English:
UK [sʊt]
How to pronounce soot in American English:
US [sʊt, sut]
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- Noun:
- a black colloidal substance consisting wholly or principally of amorphous carbon and used to make pigments and ink
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- Verb:
- coat with soot
Word Origin
- soot
- soot: [OE] Soot is etymologically that which ‘sits’ on something – that is, a film which settles on a surface. The word comes from a prehistoric Germanic *sōtam, which was descended from the Indo-European base *sōd-, *sed- ‘sit’ (source also of English settle, sit, etc). By the time it reached English it had become specialized in meaning to the ‘fine black particles produced by burning’.=> settle, sit
- soot (n.)
- Old English sot "soot," from Proto-Germanic *sotam "soot" (cognates: Old Norse sot, Old Dutch soet, North Frisian sutt), literally "what settles," from PIE *sod-o- (cognates: Old Church Slavonic sažda, Lithuanian suodžiai, Old Irish suide, Breton huzel "soot"), suffixed form of root *sed- (1) "to sit" (see sedentary).
Example
- 1. Coal soot emissions will probably be eased by the economic downturn .
- 2. The analysis found that cyclists had 2.3 times more soot in their airway cells .
- 3. New research suggests that cyclists are at increased risk of lung damage because of soot .
- 4. Environmental protests , especially concerning soot emissions from ship exhausts , will be another hurdle .
- 5. And soot from india , china and a few other countries threatens water supplies fed by the himalayan-tibetan glaciers .