asphalt

See also: Asphalt

English

asphalt

asphalt (noun sense 2) for road surfacing

Alternative forms

• asphalte (obsolete)

Etymology

From Late Latin asphaltum, from Ancient Greek ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos, “asphalt, bitumen”). Displaced native Old English eorþteoru.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈæʃfɑlt/, /ˈæsfɑlt/
• (Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈæʃfɔlt/, /ˈæsfɔlt/, /ˈæʃfɛlt/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæsfælt/, /ˈæsfəlt/, /ˈæsfɔːlt/, /ˈæsfɒlt/, /ˈæʃ-/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæsfɔlt/, /ˈæʃfɔlt/, /ˈæsfɑlt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Noun

asphalt (countable and uncountable, plural asphalts)

2. A sticky, black to brown and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid, composed almost entirely of bitumen with small mineral particles, that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits.

   Synonym: bitumen

   The mining of asphalt was big business in this area in the early twentieth century.

   • 1914, Thomas Hugh Boorman, Asphalts, their sources and utilizations, →OCLC, page 9:

     Felltham wrote in the beginning of the 17th century of the “Bitumated walls of Babylon;” the source of its supply, the fountains of Is, on a tributary of the Euphrates, still yields asphalt.

4. Ellipsis of asphalt concrete, a hard ground covering used for roads and walkways.

   Near-synonyms: tarmac, tarmacadam, blacktop, bitumen

   Please hose off the asphalt near the top of the driveway if the trucks get lots of mud on it.

   • 1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XXII, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 214:

     Between the grey mist of rainclouds the sun suddenly appeared to mottle the wet asphalt of Marble Arch in patches of silver and ebony.

   • (Can we date this quote?), “RAP Benefits for Pavement Owners”, in National Asphalt Pavement Association‎^[1], archived from the original on 21 March 2025, page 1:

     89.2 million tons of RAP are used annually in new asphalt pavement construction in the United States.

Derived terms

• air-blown asphalt
• asphalt concrete
• asphalt emulsion
• asphaltene
• asphalter
• asphaltic
• asphaltite
• asphalt jungle
• asphaltlike
• asphalt road
• asphalt shingle
• deasphalt
• glasphalt
• nonasphalt
• Syrian asphalt

Translations

sticky, black and highly viscous liquid

• Albanian: asfalt (sq)
• Arabic: أَسْفَلْت m (ʔasfalt), زِفْت m (zift)
• Armenian: ասֆալտ (hy) (asfalt)
• Basque: asfalto
• Belarusian: асфа́льт m (asfálʹt), асва́льт m (asválʹt)
• Bulgarian: асфа́лт (bg) m (asfált)
• Catalan: asfalt (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蠟青 / 蜡青 (laap⁶ ceng¹)

  Mandarin: 瀝青 / 沥青 (zh) (lìqīng)

• Czech: asfalt (cs) m
• Danish: asfalt (da) c
• Dutch: asfalt (nl) n
• Esperanto: asfalto (eo)
• Estonian: asfalt (et)
• Finnish: bitumi (fi)
• French: asphalte (fr) m
• Georgian: ასფალტი (ka) (aspalṭi)
• German: Asphalt (de) m
• Greek: άσφαλτος (el) f (ásfaltos)

  Ancient Greek: ἄσφαλτος f (ásphaltos)

• Hebrew: אַסְפַלְט (he) m (asfált)
• Hindi: डामर (hi) (ḍāmar)
• Hungarian: aszfalt (hu)
• Ido: asfalto (io)
• Indonesian: aspal (id)
• Irish: asfalt m
• Italian: asfalto (it) m, bitume (it) m
• Japanese: アスファルト (ja) (asufaruto), 瀝青 (ja) (れきせい, rekisei)
• Kannada: ಕಲ್ಲರಗು (kn) (kallaragu)
• Korean: 아스팔트 (ko) (aseupalteu), 역청(瀝靑) (yeokcheong), 력청(瀝靑) (ryeokcheong) (North Korea)
• Latin: bitūmen n, asphaltum n (late)
• Latvian: asfalts m
• Lithuanian: asfaltas m
• Macedonian: асфалт m (asfalt)
• Nahuatl: chiapopotl
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: asfalt (no) m

  Nynorsk: asfalt m

• Old English: eorþtyrewa m
• Persian: آسْفالْت (fa) (âsfâlt)
• Polish: asfalt (pl) m
• Portuguese: asfalto (pt) m
• Romanian: asfalt (ro) n
• Russian: асфа́льт (ru) m (asfálʹt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̀сфалт m

  Latin: àsfalt (sh) m

• Slovak: asfalt m
• Slovene: asfalt (sl) m
• Spanish: asfalto (es) m, chapopote (es) m, chapapote (es) m, pisasfalto m, neme (es) m
• Swedish: asfalt (sv) c
• Tagalog: aspalto
• Thai: แอสฟัลต์
• Turkish: asfalt (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: آسفالت (asfalt), قطران (katran)

• Ukrainian: асфа́льт (uk) m (asfálʹt)
• Vietnamese: nhựa đường (vi)

asphalt concrete

• Albanian: asfalt (sq)
• Arabic: أَسْفَلْت m (ʔasfalt), زِفْت (zift)

  Moroccan Arabic: زفت (zift)

• Armenian: ասֆալտ (hy) (asfalt)
• Azerbaijani: asfalt (az)
• Belarusian: асфа́льт m (asfálʹt), асва́льт m (asválʹt)
• Bengali: আস্ফাল্ট (aśphalṭo)
• Bulgarian: асфа́лт (bg) m (asfált)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瀝青混凝土 / 沥青混凝土 (lìqīng hùnníngtǔ), 柏油 (zh) (bóyóu)

• Czech: asfalt (cs) m
• Danish: asfalt (da) c
• Dutch: asfalt (nl) n
• Estonian: asfalt (et)
• Faroese: asfalt n
• Finnish: asfaltti (fi)
• French: asphalte (fr) m
• Georgian: ასფალტი (ka) (aspalṭi)
• German: Asphalt (de) m
• Greek: άσφαλτος (el) f (ásfaltos)
• Hebrew: אַסְפַלְט (he) m (asfált)
• Hindi: ऐस्फ़ाल्ट (aisfālṭ)
• Hungarian: aszfalt (hu)
• Icelandic: malbik (is) n, asfalt (is) n
• Irish: asfalt m
• Italian: asfalto (it) m
• Japanese: アスファルト (ja) (asufaruto)
• Kazakh: асфальт (asfalt)
• Korean: 아스팔트 (ko) (aseupalteu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: قیرتاو (qîrtaw)

  Northern Kurdish: asfalt (ku)

• Kyrgyz: асфальт (ky) (asfalt)
• Latvian: asfalts m
• Lithuanian: asfaltas m
• Macedonian: асфалт m (asfalt)
• Marathi: डांबर n (ḍāmbar)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: асфальт (asfalʹt)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: asfalt (no) m

  Nynorsk: asfalt m

• Old English: eorþteoru n
• Pashto: اسفالټ (ps) m (asfālṭ)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: آسْفالْت (âsfâlt)

• Pohnpeian: peip
• Polish: asfalt (pl) m
• Portuguese: asfalto (pt) m
• Romanian: asfalt (ro) n
• Russian: асфа́льт (ru) m (asfálʹt), асфальтобето́н (ru) m (asfalʹtobetón)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̀сфалт m

  Latin: àsfalt (sh) m

• Sicilian: asfartu m
• Slovak: asfalt m
• Slovene: asfalt (sl) m
• Spanish: hormigón asfáltico m, garujo bituminoso m
• Swedish: asfalt (sv) c
• Tagalog: aspalto
• Tajik: асфалт (asfalt)
• Tatar: асфальт (asfalʹt)
• Thai: ยางมะตอย (th) (yaang-má-dtɔi)
• Turkish: asfalt (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: آسفالت (asfalt)

• Turkmen: asfalt (tk)
• Ukrainian: асфа́льт (uk) m (asfálʹt)
• Urdu: اَسْفالْٹ (asfālṭ)
• Uzbek: asfalt (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhựa đường (vi)

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

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} asfalt (sv)

Verb

asphalt (third-person singular simple present asphalts, present participle asphalting, simple past and past participle asphalted)

1. (transitive) To pave with asphalt.

Translations

to pave with asphalt

• Armenian: ասֆալտապատել (hy) (asfaltapatel), ասֆալտել (hy) (asfaltel)
• Catalan: asfaltar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鋪瀝青 / 铺沥青 (pū lìqīng); 上瀝青 / 上沥青 (shàng lìqīng)

• Danish: asfaltere (da)
• Dutch: asfalteren (nl)
• Finnish: asfaltoida (fi)
• German: asphaltieren (de)
• Greek: ασφαλτοστρώνω (el) (asfaltostróno), ασφαλτώνω (el) (asfaltóno)
• Ido: asfaltizar (io)
• Irish: asfalt a chur ar
• Italian: asfaltare (it)
• Mongolian: барагшиндах (mn) (baragšindax), асфальтдах (asfalʹtdax)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: asfaltere (no)

  Nynorsk: asfaltere

• Pohnpeian: peipih
• Polish: asfaltować (pl) impf, wyasfaltować pf, zaasfaltować pf
• Portuguese: asfaltar (pt)
• Russian: асфальти́ровать (ru) impf (asfalʹtírovatʹ), заасфальти́ровать (ru) pf (zaasfalʹtírovatʹ)
• Spanish: asfaltar (es)
• Swedish: asfaltera (sv)
• Tuvan: асфальтылаар (asfalʹtılaar)
• Ukrainian: асфальтува́ти (uk) impf or pf (asfalʹtuváty)
• Yakut: асфаллаа (asfallaa), аспааллаа (aspaallaa)

Further reading

• asphalt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• spathal, taplash