phlegmatic

English

WOTD – 17 July 2007

Alternative forms

• phlegmatick, phlegmaticke, phlegmatique (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English fleumatik, flewmatik, flematik, fleumatyke, flewmatyk, from Old French fleumatique, from Latin phlegmaticus, from Ancient Greek φλεγματικός (phlegmatikós), from φλέγμα (phlégma). Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots, with modern pronunciation following this new spelling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flɛɡˈmætɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɪk

Adjective

phlegmatic (comparative more phlegmatic, superlative most phlegmatic)

1. Not easily excited to action or passion; calm; sluggish.
   • 1873, Jules Verne, chapter 2, in Around the World in 80 Days‎^[1], archived from the original on 12 April 2012:

     Calm and phlegmatic, with a clear eye, Mr. Fogg seemed a perfect type of that English composure which Angelica Kauffmann has so skilfully represented on canvas.

   • 2013, A.O. Scott, “How It Looks to Think: Watch Her,” Rev. of Hannah Arendt, dir. by Margarethe von Trotta, New York Times 29 May 2013: C1. Print.

     Their friendship (immortalized in a splendid volume of letters that has clearly served as one of Ms. von Trotta's sources) is a fascinating study in cultural and temperamental contrast, an impulsive and witty American paired with a steady, phlegmatic German.

2. Generating, causing, or full of phlegm.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     cold and phlegmatic bodies

   phlegmatic humors

   a phlegmatic constitution

Synonyms

• (calm and reasonable, tending not to get upset): apathetic, sluggish, cold-blooded, unflappable, stoic
• See also Thesaurus:calm

Coordinate terms

• choleric
• melancholic
• sanguine

Related terms

• phlegm
• phlegmatically

Translations

not easily excited to action

• Bulgarian: муден (bg) (muden), флегматичен (bg) (flegmatičen)
• Catalan: flegmàtic
• Czech: flegmatický
• Danish: flegmatisk
• Dutch: flegmatisch (nl)
• Esperanto: flegma
• Finnish: flegmaattinen (fi)
• French: flegmatique (fr) m or f
• Galician: flegmático, bacento
• German: phlegmatisch (de)
• Greek: φλεγματικός (el) (flegmatikós)
• Hebrew: פלגמטי (he) (flegmati)
• Interlingua: phlegmatic
• Irish: fuarchúiseach
• Italian: flemmatico (it)
• Macedonian: рамно́душен (ramnódušen), флегма́тичен (flegmátičen)
• Polish: flegmatyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: fleumático (pt)
• Russian: флегмати́ческий (ru) (flegmatíčeskij), флегмати́чный (ru) (flegmatíčnyj)
• Spanish: flemático (es)
• Swedish: flegmatisk (sv), sävlig (sv)
• Ukrainian: флегмати́чний m (flehmatýčnyj), флегматик m (flehmatyk)

generating, causing, or full of phlegm

• Bulgarian: слузест (sluzest)
• Catalan: flegmàtic
• German: phlegmatisch (de)
• Macedonian: слу́зест (slúzest)
• Spanish: flemático (es)
• Swedish: flegmatisk (sv)

watery

• Romanian: apos (ro) m or n, apoasa f, aposi m pl, apoase f pl

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Greek: φλεγματικός (el) (flegmatikós)
• Japanese: 粘液質の (ねんえきしつの, nen eki shitsu no)

Noun

phlegmatic (plural phlegmatics)

1. One who has a phlegmatic disposition.

Translations

person

• Finnish: flegmaatikko (fi)
• Swedish: flegmatiker (sv)