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phosphorus

UK/ˈfɒs.fə.ɹəs/US/ˈfɑs.fɚ.əs/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,694 of 15,258leans written

Phosphorus is an element that glows and catches fire easily. White phosphorus, red phosphorus, phosphorus in fertiliser.

White phosphorus ignites in air and burns fiercely; red is stable and sits on the side of a matchbox. The element is essential to life — it is in DNA and in bone — and the world's supply for fertiliser comes from a few mined rock deposits.

Tomihahndorf · Public domain

Definitions of phosphorus

  1. 1nounphosphorusAn element that glows and catches fire easily.B2+

    “A piece of white phosphorus glows faintly in the dark.”

phosphorus is an element.

Where it comes from

Greek phosphoros means light-bearer, from phos, light, plus pherein, to carry. It was the old name for the morning star.

  1. Latin

    phōsphorus

  2. English, today

    phosphorus

Built from

  • φῶς · Ancient Greek — light
  • φέρω · Ancient Greek — to bear, carry

Borrowed from Latin phōsphorus. Borrowed from Latin phōsphorus, from Ancient Greek φωσφόρος (“the bearer of light”), from φῶς (“light”) + φέρω (“to bear, carry”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Chemistry & Elements

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phosphorus in the wild

  • All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly reactive and are therefore never found in nature.

    Phosphorus

  • With 31P as its only stable isotope, phosphorus has an occurrence in Earth's crust of about 0.1%, generally as phosphate rock.

    Phosphorus

  • White phosphorus is a highly efficient smoke-producing agent, reacting with air to produce an immediate blanket of phosphorus pentoxide vapour.

    White phosphorus munition

  • Phosphorus, like nitrogen, is in group 15 of the periodic table, and thus phosphorus compounds and nitrogen compounds have many similar properties.

    Organophosphorus chemistry

  • Living organisms require phosphorus, a vital component of DNA, RNA, and ATP, for their proper functioning.

    Phosphorus cycle

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the phōsphorus family

phosphorusphosphorescent

phosphorus — used about once every 4,930 pages · #9,694 · point at the bar for the others