phosphorescent

English

Etymology

From phosphorus +‎ -escent.
It's interesting to note that phosphorus is not phosphorescent. Some phosphoric mixtures can be luminescent through chemical reactions, but none exhibit literal phosphorescence.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsənt

Adjective

phosphorescent (comparative more phosphorescent, superlative most phosphorescent)

1. Having the property of emitting light for a period of time after the source of excitation is taken away, e.g., in electrostatic storage tubes and cathode-ray tubes.

   Synonym: (especially of the sea, archaic or obsolete) briny

   • 1966 [1961], William S. Burroughs, The Soft Machine (The Nova Trilogy), New York: Grove Press, page 11:

     So he imports this special breed of scorpions and feeds them on metal meal and the scorpions turned a phosphorescent blue color and sort of hummed.

Derived terms

• electrophosphorescent
• phosphorescence
• phosphorescently
• photophosphorescent
• semiphosphorescent

Related terms

• phosphor
• phosphoresce
• phosphoroscope

Translations

emitting light for a period of time after the source of excitation is taken away

• Bulgarian: фосфоресцентен (bg) (fosforescenten), фосфоресциращ (bg) (fosforescirašt)
• Catalan: fosforescent
• Czech: fosforeskující
• Esperanto: fosforeska
• Finnish: fosforoiva
• French: phosphorescent (fr)
• Galician: fosforescente
• Greek: φωσφορίζων (el) (fosforízon)
• Italian: fosforescente (it)
• Māori: hinātore
• Occitan: fosforescent (oc)
• Polish: fosforescencyjny
• Portuguese: fosforescente (pt)
• Spanish: fosforescente (es)
• Tagalog: mapospowanag
• Welsh: ffosfforeddol

Noun

phosphorescent (plural phosphorescents)

1. A phosphorescent substance.

Translations

Any substance that emits light for a time after the source of excitation is taken away

French

Etymology

From phosphore +‎ -escent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔs.fɔ.ʁɛ.sɑ̃/ ~ /fɔs.fɔ.ʁe.sɑ̃/

Adjective

phosphorescent (feminine phosphorescente, masculine plural phosphorescents, feminine plural phosphorescentes)

1. phosphorescent

See also

• luminescent

Further reading

• “phosphorescent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012