Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Chemistry
/ˈkɛmɪstri/noun
The science of substances, their composition and the reactions between them.
The Greek roots
χημεία
khēmeía
art of transmuting metals
Literally: “the art of pouring and fusing”
Follow a root:χημεία2 words
The story of the word
The word came into Europe through Arabic al-kīmiyā', and English kept two versions: alchemy with the Arabic article still attached, and chemistry without it. Where the Arabic got it is genuinely disputed. Most trace it to Greek χημεία, connected with χέω, to pour, or χυμός, juice; others to Egyptian kēme, the black land, meaning Egypt itself and the black art practised there. Both accounts are defended by serious people, and no evidence has settled it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Arabic → Medieval Latin → English
- First recorded
- 1600s
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
alchemychemicalbiochemistrychemotherapy
In a sentence
Chemistry was the only subject he never had to be told to revise for.