lethal

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /liːθəl/
• Rhymes: -iːθəl

Etymology 1

From Latin lētālis (“mortal, deadly”), improperly written lethalis, from letum (“death”), improperly written as lethum, as associated with Greek λήθη (lethe, “forgetfulness”).

Adjective

lethal (comparative more lethal, superlative most lethal)

1. deadly; mortal; fatal

Related terms

• lethality
• semilethal

Translations

deadly

• Czech: smrtící (cs) (causing death), smrtelný (cs) (able to die), smrtonosný (cs)
• Dutch: dodelijk (nl)
• Finnish: kuolettava (fi), tappava (fi), letaali (fi)
• French: létal (fr) m, mortel (fr) m, fatal (fr) m
• German: tödlich (de)
• Greek: φονικός (el) (fonikos), θανατηφόρος (el) (thanatiforos)

• Italian: letale (it) m and f
• Portuguese: fatal (pt), letal (pt), mortal (pt)
• Russian: смертельный (ru) (smertélʹnyj), (esp. of weapons) смертоносный (ru) (mertonósnyj), (medical) летальный (ru) (letálʹnyj)
• Slovene: smrtonosen (sl)
• Spanish: letal (es)

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of “lauric acid ethereal salt”, so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.

Noun

lethal (uncountable)

1. (chemistry) One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.

Translations

alcohol

External links

• lethal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• lethal in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911