Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Colloid
/ˈkɒlɔɪd/noun
A mixture in which fine particles stay suspended in another substance without dissolving or settling out.
The Greek roots
κόλλα
kólla
glue
εἶδος
eîdos
form, appearance
Literally: “glue-like”
The story of the word
Thomas Graham coined the term in 1861 after noticing that salt and sugar pass through a membrane while glue and gum arabic will not. He split all matter into crystalloids and colloids on that test, and named the second group after the glue that showed him the difference. Milk, fog, ink and jelly are all colloids. The same κόλλα is glued into collagen and into protocol, which was the first sheet stuck to a papyrus roll.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1861
Same family
collagenprotocolcolloidalkaleidoscope
In a sentence
Mayonnaise is a colloid held together by egg yolk, and it splits the moment that fails.