alchemy

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From Old French alkemie, arquemie (French alchimie) < Mediaeval Latin alkimia < Arabic الكيمياء (al-kīmiyā’) < article al +Ancient Greek χημεία or χυμεία (chēmeia or chymeia) originally “a mingling, infusion, juice, liquid, especially as extracted from plants” and later “alchemy”, < perhaps from Χημία (Chēmia), black earth (ancient name for Egypt)) and/or χυμός (chymos), juice, sap). (Compare Spanish alquimia and Italian alchimia).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

Singular
alchemy

Plural
countable and uncountable; plural alchemies

alchemy (countable and uncountable; plural alchemies)

  1. (obsolete, uncountable) The ancient search for a universal panacea, and of the philosopher's stone, that eventually developed into chemistry
  2. (countable) The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.
  3. (computing, slang, countable) Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

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[edit] See also

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