bitumen

See also: Bitumen

English

Etymology

From Latin bitūmen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪt.jʊ.mɪn/, /ˈbɪt͡ʃ.ʊ.mɪn/
• IPA^(key): /bɪˈtumən/, /bɪˈtjumən/, /baɪˈtumən/
• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪt.jʊ.mɪn/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

bitumen (countable and uncountable, plural bitumina or bitumens)

1. Mineral pitch; a black, tarry substance, burning with a bright flame. It occurs as an abundant natural product in many places, as on the shores of the Dead and Caspian Seas. It is used in cements, in the construction of pavements, etc.

   Synonym: Jew's pitch

   • 2014 August 24, Jeff Howell, “Home improvements: gravel paths and cutting heating bills [print version: Cold comfort in technology, 23 August 2014, p. P5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property)‎^[2]:

     You need to excavate and remove the topsoil, line the subsoil with a geotextile, then lay and compact hardcore. Follow this with a layer of compacted "hoggin" – compacted clay, gravel and sand. This is then sprayed with hot bitumen, and has a layer of pea shingle rolled into it.

2. (by extension) Any one of the natural hydrocarbons, including the hard, solid, brittle varieties called asphalt, the semisolid maltha and mineral tars, the oily petrolea, and even the light, volatile naphthas.
3. (Canada) Canadian deposits of extremely heavy crude oil.

Synonyms

• (mineral pitch): Jew’s lime, Jew’s pitch, Jew’s slime, slime (all obsolete)

Derived terms

• bituminous
• bitumoid
• crude bitumen
• modified bitumen
• pyrobitumen
• refined bitumen

 

Translations

Mineral pitch

• Albanian: bitum (sq)
• Bengali: শিলাজতু (śilajôtu)
• Bulgarian: битум m (bitum)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瀝青／沥青 (zh) (lìqīng), 沥青 (zh) (lìqīng)

• Dutch: aardpek (nl) m or n, bitumen (nl) n
• Finnish: bitumi (fi)
• French: bitume (fr) m
• German: Bitumen (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἄσφαλτος f (ásphaltos)

• Hebrew: חמר (he) (kheimahr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• Italian: bitume (it), asfalto (it) m
• Japanese: 歴青 (れきせい, rekisei), 瀝青 (れきせい, rekisei)
• Latin: bitūmen n
• Portuguese: betume (pt)
• Romanian: bitum (ro)
• Russian: би́тум (ru) m (bítum)
• Scottish Gaelic: bìth f, teàrr f
• Spanish: betún (es), bitumen (es) m
• Swedish: bitumen (sv) n
• Thai: ยางมะตอย (th) (yaang-má-dtɔi)

Verb

bitumen (third-person singular simple present bitumens, present participle bitumening, simple past and past participle bitumened)

1. To cover or fill with bitumen.

   Synonym: bituminize

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

See also

• asphalt

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bitume, from Latin bitūmen, which later influenced the spelling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbiˈty.mə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bi‧tu‧men

Noun

bitumen n (plural bitumina)

1. bitumen, mineral pitch

   Synonyms: aardhars, aardpek, bergteer, jodenlijm

Related terms

• beton

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Latin

Etymology

The latter element is the common suffix -men; the former is from Proto-Indo-European *gʷétu (“pitch”) via an Italic language in which *gʷ became b, e.g. Oscan or Umbrian. (The traditional derivation from Celtic is implausible as the related Celtic words—Old Irish beithe, Welsh bedw, and the Gaulish source of Spanish biezo—mean only ‘birch’, not ‘pitch’.)

Cognate with Scottish Gaelic bìth (“resin, gum”), English cud, Sanskrit जतु (jatu, “lac, gum”). Influenced by ferrūmen (“cement, glue”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /biˈtuː.men/, [bɪˈt̪uːmɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /biˈtu.men/, [biˈt̪uːmen]

Noun

bitūmen n (genitive bitūminis); third declension

1. mineral pitch, bitumen

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	bitūmen	bitūmina
Genitive	bitūminis	bitūminum
Dative	bitūminī	bitūminibus
Accusative	bitūmen	bitūmina
Ablative	bitūmine	bitūminibus
Vocative	bitūmen	bitūmina

Related terms

• bitūmineus
• bitūminō
• bitūminōsus

Descendants

• French: béton
  • → German: Beton
  • → Portuguese: betão
• Italian: bitume
• Portuguese: betume
• Spanish: betún
• → English: bitumen
• → German: Bitumen
• → Russian: би́тум m (bítum)

References

• “bitumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “bitumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• bitumen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “bitumen”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers