Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Thermos
/ˈθɜːrməs/noun
A vacuum flask that keeps its contents hot or cold for hours.
The Greek roots
θερμός
thermós
hot, warm
Literally: “hot”
Follow a root:θερμός11 words
The story of the word
James Dewar built the vacuum flask in 1892 to hold liquefied gases and never patented it. German glassblowers turned it into a product, and the name Thermos won a public competition in Munich before being registered as a trademark in 1907. American courts later ruled the word had gone generic, which is why you can write a thermos of coffee with a small t and nobody's lawyer calls.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → German trademark → English
- First recorded
- 1907
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
thermometerthermalthermostathypothermia
In a sentence
There is a thermos of soup in the van for whoever finishes first.
The thermos leaked all over the rucksack before we reached the summit.