incombustible

English

WOTD – 23 August 2006

Etymology

From in- +‎ combust +‎ -ible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪŋkəmˈbʌstɪbəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

incombustible (comparative more incombustible, superlative most incombustible)

1. Not capable of catching fire and burning; not flammable.
   • 1921, Charles Kenneth Leith, The Economic Aspect of Geology, page 124:

     The ash represents the more incombustible mineral matter, usually of the nature of clay or slate.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “not flammable”): combustible, flammable (US), inflammable (UK)

Derived terms

• incombustibleness
• incombustibly

Translations

not flammable

• Bulgarian: негорим (negorim)
• Catalan: incombustible
• Czech: nehořlavý
• French: incombustible (fr)
• German: unbrennbar (de), unverbrennbar, feuersicher
• Greek: άκαυστος (el) (ákafstos)
• Irish: dodhóite
• Italian: incombustibile (it)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: neşewit, nesoj, agirnegir (ku)

• Portuguese: incombustível (pt)
• Spanish: incombustible (es)
• Swedish: obrännbar (sv)
• Welsh: anhylosg

Noun

incombustible (plural incombustibles)

1. Any substance that is not flammable.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin incombustibilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [iŋ.kum.busˈtib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [iŋ.kom.busˈtib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [iŋ.kom.busˈti.ble]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

incombustible m or f (masculine and feminine plural incombustibles)

1. not capable of catching fire and burning; not flammable

   Antonym: combustible

Further reading

• “incombustible”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “incombustible”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “incombustible” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “incombustible” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Adjective

incombustible (plural incombustibles)

1. incombustible

Further reading

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

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin incombustibĭle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inkombusˈtible/ [ĩŋ.kõm.busˈt̪i.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -ible
• Syllabification: in‧com‧bus‧ti‧ble

Adjective

incombustible m or f (masculine and feminine plural incombustibles)

1. not capable of catching fire and burning; not flammable

   Antonym: combustible

Further reading

• “incombustible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025