graphite

See also: Graphite

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-

Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō

Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō)

Proto-Indo-European *-tósder.

Ancient Greek -της (-tēs)der.

Ancient Greek -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs)der.

Latin -ītēsbor.

French -itebor.

German -it

German Graphitbor.

English graphite

Borrowed from German Graphit (A. G. Werner 1789), from Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæfaɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

graphite (countable and uncountable, plural graphites)

1. An allotrope of carbon, consisting of planes of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal arrays with the planes stacked loosely, that is used as a dry lubricant, in "lead" pencils, and as a moderator in some nuclear reactors.
   • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 4, in Well Tackled!‎^[1]:

     Technical terms like ferrite, perlite, graphite, and hardenite were bandied to and fro, and when Paget glibly brought out such a rare exotic as ferro-molybdenum, Benson forgot that he was a master ship-builder, […]

2. Graphite-reinforced plastic, a composite plastic made with graphite fibers noted for lightweight strength and stiffness.

   Modern tennis racquets are made of graphite, fibreglass and other man-made materials.

3. A grey colour, resembling graphite or the marks made with a graphite pencil.

   graphite:  

Synonyms

• (allotrope of carbon): plumbago, black lead
• (composite plastic): carbon fiber reinforced plastic, carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer, graphite composite, CFRP, CRP

Derived terms

• aerographite
• electrographite
• Graphalloy
• graphene
• graphite bomb
• graphite fluoride
• graphitelike
• graphitic
• graphitization
• graphitize
• graphitoid
• nanographite
• nongraphite

Translations

form of carbon

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: কৃষ্ণসীস (bn) (kriśnośiś)
• Bulgarian: графит m (grafit)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: grafit (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 石墨 (zh) (shímò)

• Czech: grafit (cs) m, tuha (cs) f
• Danish: grafit (da) c
• Dutch: grafiet (nl) n
• Esperanto: grafito (eo)
• Estonian: grafiit, metaantratsiidiks
• Finnish: grafiitti (fi)
• French: graphite (fr) m
• Galician: grafito (gl) m
• German: Graphit (de) m
• Greek: γραφίτης (el) m (grafítis)
• Greenlandic: torsummiutaq, aqerluusassaq
• Hindi: लिखिज (likhij), ग्रेफाइट (grephāiṭ)
• Hungarian: grafit (hu)
• Icelandic: grafít (is) n, ritblý
• Ido: grafito (io)
• Irish: graifít f
• Italian: grafite (it) f
• Japanese: 石墨 (ja) (せきぼく, sekiboku), 黒鉛 (ja) (kokuen)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 석묵(石墨) (seongmuk), 흑연(黑鉛) (ko) (heugyeon)
• Lao: ຫິນດຳ (hin dam)
• Latin: plumbāgō (la) f
• Māori: matāpango
• Marathi: ग्रॅफाइट n (grĕphāiṭ)
• Mongolian: бал чулуу (bal čuluu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: grafitt m

  Nynorsk: grafitt m

• Persian: گرافیت (fa) (gerâfit)
• Plautdietsch: Blie n
• Polish: grafit (pl) m
• Portuguese: grafite (pt), grafita (pt)
• Punjabi: ਗਰੇਫ਼ਾਈਟ (garefāīṭa)
• Romanian: grafit (ro) n
• Russian: графи́т (ru) m (grafít)
• Serbo-Croatian: grafit (sh) m
• Slovak: tuha
• Slovene: grafit m
• Spanish: grafito (es) m, plombagina f, plumbagina f
• Swedish: grafit (sv) c, blyerts (sv) c
• Tagalog: hitam, grapito (tl)
• Tamil: கடுங்கரி (kaṭuṅkari)
• Thai: ถ่านดำใช้ทำดินสอ
• Turkish: grafit (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: غرافیت (gırafit)

• Vietnamese: than chì (vi)
• Welsh: graffit (cy) m
• Yiddish: גראַפֿיט m (grafit)

composite plastic

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: hiilikuitu (fi), hiilikuitukomposiitti (fi)
• Polish: grafit (pl) m

colour

• Bulgarian: графит m (grafit)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: grafiitinharmaa
• Polish: kolor grafitowy m
• Swedish: blyerts (sv) c

Verb

graphite (third-person singular simple present graphites, present participle graphiting, simple past and past participle graphited)

1. (transitive) To apply graphite to.

See also

• diamond

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2026), “Graphite”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “graphite”, in Mindat.org, Keswick, Va.: Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2026.

Anagrams

• earthpig, hig-taper, earth-pig, earth pig

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁa.fit/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

Noun

graphite m (plural graphites)

1. graphite (form of carbon)

Further reading

• “graphite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012