amalgam

See also: Amalgam and amalgám

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin amalgama (“mercury alloy”), from Arabic اَلْمَلْغَم‎ (al-malḡam, “emollient poultice or unguent for sores”), from Ancient Greek μάλαγμα (málagma, “emollient; malleable material”), from μαλάσσω (malássō, “to soften”), from μαλακός (malakós, “soft”). Doublet of malagma. For the verb, compare French amalgamer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈmæl.ɡəm/
• Hyphenation: a‧mal‧gam

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

amalgam (countable and uncountable, plural amalgams)

1. (metallurgy) An alloy containing mercury.
2. A combination of different things.
   • 1960 March, J. P. Wilson & E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 149:

     This was the Ambergate, Nottingham & Boston & Eastern Junction Railway, an amalgam of a number of separate schemes put forward in 1845, which secured its Act on July 16, 1846.

3. One of the ingredients in an alloy.

Synonyms

• alloy, blend, combo, compound, conglomerate, mixture

Related terms

• amalgamate
• amalgamation

Translations

alloy

• Catalan: amalgama (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 汞齐 (zh) (gǒngjì)

• Czech: amalgám (cs) m
• Danish: amalgam (da) n
• Finnish: amalgaami (fi)
• German: Amalgam (de) n
• Greek: αμάλγαμα (el) n (amálgama)
• Italian: amalgama (it) m
• Malay: amalgam

• Manx: co-lheian m
• Persian: ملغمه‎ (fa) (malğame)
• Polish: amalgamat (pl) m
• Portuguese: amálgama (pt) m or f
• Russian: амальга́ма (ru) f (amalʹgáma)
• Spanish: amalgama (es) f
• Swedish: amalgam (sv) n
• Turkish: malgama (tr)
• Vietnamese: hỗn hống (vi)

combination

• Catalan: amalgama (ca) f
• Finnish: amalgaami (fi)
• French: amalgame (fr) m
• Greek: αμάλγαμα (el) n (amálgama), κράμα (el) n (kráma), σύμφυρμα (el) n (sýmfyrma)
• Manx: co-lheian m

• Persian: ملغمه‎ (fa) (malğame)
• Portuguese: amálgama (pt) m or f
• Russian: амальга́ма (ru) f (amalʹgáma)
• Spanish: amalgama (es) f

Verb

amalgam (third-person singular simple present amalgams, present participle amalgaming, simple past and past participle amalgamed)

1. (archaic, transitive, intransitive) To amalgamate.
   • a. 1691, Robert Boyle, An Essay on the Porousness of Solid Bodies

     I had once occasion to distill in a small retort some gold amalgamed with such a fine and subtile mercur

   • 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, OCLC 1008120557; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, OCLC 52009618, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     gold t'amalgam with some six of mercury

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “amalgam”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• David Barthelmy (1997–2021) , “Amalgam”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “amalgam”, in Mindat.org‎^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2021.
• “amalgam”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• malagma

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Romanian

Etymology

From French amalgame, from Latin amalgama.

Noun

amalgam n (plural amalgame)

1. amalgam

Declension

Declension of amalgam

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) amalgam	amalgamul	(niște) amalgame	amalgamele
genitive/dative	(unui) amalgam	amalgamului	(unor) amalgame	amalgamelor
vocative	amalgamule		amalgamelor

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /amǎlɡaːm/
• Hyphenation: a‧mal‧gam

Noun

amàlgām m (Cyrillic spelling ама̀лга̄м)

1. amalgam

Declension

Declension of amalgam

	singular	plural
nominative	amàlgām	amalgami
genitive	amalgáma	amalgama
dative	amalgamu	amalgamima
accusative	amalgam	amalgame
vocative	amalgame	amalgami
locative	amalgamu	amalgamima
instrumental	amalgamom	amalgamima

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Swedish

Noun

amalgam n

1. amalgam

Declension

Declension of amalgam
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	amalgam	amalgamet	—	—
Genitive	amalgams	amalgamets	—	—