efflorescence

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French efflorescence, from Latin efflōrēscō (from ex- (“out”) +‎ flōrēscō (“to blossom”)) + -ence. By surface analysis, effloresce +‎ -ence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛfləˈɹɛsəns/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

efflorescence (countable and uncountable, plural efflorescences)

1. (botany) The production of flowers.
2. (figurative) Rapid flowering of a culture or civilisation etc.
   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 366:

     […] for it could not be expected that a class condemned to increasing degradation of mind and body would be able to bring about the greatest revolution in history, including not only economic changes but the efflorescence of art and civilization.

   • 2015, Heidi Nast, “Pit Bulls, Slavery, and Whiteness in the Mid- to Late-Nineteenth-Century U.S.”, in Rosemary-Claire Collard, Kathryn Gillespie, editors, Critical Animal Geographies, page 138:

     1919, a time when African American hopes for a just future following their service in World War I were dashed by violent reassertions of white supremacy, including the efflorescence and expansion of the KKK into the Midwestern and northwestern U.S.

3. (chemistry) The formation of a powdery surface on crystals, as a hydrate is converted to anhydrous form by losing loosely bound water of crystallization to the atmosphere.
4. (construction) An encrustation of soluble salts, commonly white, deposited on the surface of stone, brick, plaster, or mortar; usually caused by free alkalies leached from mortar or adjacent concrete as moisture moves through it.
5. (geology) An encrustation of soluble salts, deposited on rock or soil by evaporation; often found in arid or geothermal environments.
   • 2022 August 29, Michelle Goldberg, “The Book That Explains Our Cultural Stagnation”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     I’d hoped that when the black hole of the Donald Trump presidency ended, redirected energy might allow for a cultural efflorescence. So far that hasn’t happened.

6. (pathology) A redness, rash, or eruption on the skin.

Derived terms

• effloresce
• efflorescent

Translations

formation of a powdery surface

• Catalan: eflorescència
• Danish: forvitring (da)
• French: efflorescence (fr)
• German: Ausblühung f, Effloreszenz f
• Greenlandic: aaneq
• Italian: efflorescenza
• Romanian: eflorescență (ro) f
• Sicilian: salamastru m
• Tagalog: halintubig
• Turkish: çiçek (tr)

production of flowers

• French: efflorescence (fr)
• Greek: άνθηση (el) f (ánthisi), εξάνθηση (el) f (exánthisi)
• Italian: efflorescenza
• Polish: kwitnienie (pl) n, rozkwit (pl) m
• Romanian: eflorescență (ro) f

rapid flowering of a culture

• French: efflorescence (fr)
• Greek: άνθηση (el) f (ánthisi)
• Italian: efflorescenza
• Polish: rozkwit (pl) m
• Romanian: eflorescență (ro) f
• Turkish: çiçek (tr)

eruption on the skin

• Catalan: eflorescència f
• French: efflorescence (fr), irruption (fr) f
• Greek: εξάνθημα (el) n (exánthima)
• Indonesian: eflorensensi
• Italian: efflorescenza
• Polish: wykwit (pl) m
• Romanian: eflorescență (ro) f
• Turkish: çiçek (tr)

French

Etymology

Learned derivation from Latin efflōrēscere with the suffix -ence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.flɔ.ʁɛ.sɑ̃s/ ~ /e.flɔ.ʁe.sɑ̃s/, /ɛf.flɔ.ʁɛs.sɑ̃s/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

efflorescence f (plural efflorescences)

1. efflorescence