paraffin

See also: Paraffin

English

Alternative forms

• paraffine (dated)

Etymology

From Latin paraffinum, from parum (too little) + affinis (related, affinity). Therefore low affinity or being chemically neutral.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.ə.fɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛɹ.ə.fɪn/

Noun

paraffin (countable and uncountable, plural paraffins)

1. (UK, Ireland) A petroleum-based thin and colourless fuel oil.

   Synonym: kerosene

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 57”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     She poured paraffin on the dry floors and on the pandanus-mats, and then she set fire.

   • 2023 October 18, Tom Perkins, “Flame retardant pollution threatens wildlife on all continents, research finds”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The paper found high levels of phased-out flame retardants like PCBs and PBDEs, as well as allegedly safe, newer replacements chemicals, such as chlorinated paraffins and organophosphates, across the globe.

2. (petrochemistry, organic chemistry) Any member of the alkane hydrocarbons.
3. Paraffin wax.

Derived terms

• chloroparaffin
• cycloparaffin
• deparaffinate
• histoparaffin
• isoparaffin
• liquid paraffin
• nitroparaffin
• nonparaffin
• parafango
• paraffinate
• paraffinic
• paraffinization
• paraffinize
• paraffin oil
• paraffinoma
• paraffin paper
• paraffin scale
• paraffin test
• paraffiny
• soft paraffin

Translations

kerosene — see kerosene

alkane hydrocarbon

• Armenian: պարաֆին (hy) (parafin)
• Belarusian: парафі́н m (parafín)
• Bulgarian: парафи́н m (parafín)
• Catalan: parafina (ca) f
• Dutch: paraffine (nl)
• Estonian: alkaan
• Finnish: alkaani (fi)
• French: paraffine (fr)
• Georgian: პარაფინი (ṗarapini)
• Greek: παραφίνη (el) f (parafíni)
• Hungarian: paraffin (hu)
• Italian: paraffina (it) f
• Japanese: パラフィン (ja) (parafin)
• Korean: 파라핀 (ko) (parapin)
• Polish: parafina (pl) f, alkan (pl) m
• Russian: парафи́н (ru) m (parafín)
• Spanish: parafina (es) f
• Swedish: paraffin (sv) n
• Tagalog: malapagkit, parapina
• Thai: พาราฟิน
• Ukrainian: парафі́н m (parafín)

paraffin wax — see paraffin wax

Verb

paraffin (third-person singular simple present paraffins, present participle paraffining, simple past and past participle paraffined)

1. To impregnate or treat with paraffin.
2. To embed in paraffin wax.

Translations

treat with paraffin

• Catalan: parafinar (ca)
• Finnish: parafinoida
• French: paraffiner (fr)
• German: paraffinieren
• Italian: paraffinare
• Polish: parafinować
• Romanian: parafina (ro)

Swedish

paraffin

Noun

paraffin n

1. paraffin wax, paraffin

   ost överdragen med paraffin

   cheese coated with paraffin wax

Declension

Declension of paraffin

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	paraffin	paraffins
	definite	paraffinet	paraffinets
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

Related terms

• paraffinera

See also

• fotogen (“kerosene”)

References

• “paraffin”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “paraffin”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “paraffin”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)