Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Graphene
/ˈɡræfiːn/noun
A sheet of carbon one atom thick, with the atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice.
The Greek roots
γράφειν
gráphein
to scratch, to write
Literally: “the writing substance”
Follow a root:γράφειν39 words
The story of the word
Graphite was named in 1789 by Abraham Werner, who reached for the Greek verb for scratching because the mineral leaves a mark on paper. Two centuries later Hanns-Peter Boehm coined graphene for a single sheet of that same carbon. The pencil line you draw is the parent material, and peeling one layer off it earned a Nobel Prize in 2010.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1986
Same family
graphitegraphautographparagraph
In a sentence
Graphene carries heat better than copper and is still awkward to make in useful sheets.