graphite

See also: Graphite

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Graphit (A. G. Werner 1789), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō, “I write”).

Pronunciation

• 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 and in "lead" pencils.
   • 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. Short for graphite-reinforced plastic, a composite plastic made with graphite fibers noted for light weight strength and stiffness.

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

3. A grey colour.

Synonyms

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

Translations

form of carbon

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: কৃষ্ণসীস (kriśnośiś)
• Bulgarian: графит m (grafit)
• 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
• German: Graphit (de) m
• Greek: γραφίτης (el) m (grafítis)
• Greenlandic: torsummiutaq, aqerluusassaq
• Hindi: लिखिज (likhij)
• Icelandic: grafít (is) n, ritblý
• Ido: grafito (io)
• Italian: grafite (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 石墨 (ja) (せきぼく, sekiboku), 黒鉛 (ja) (kokuen)
• Korean: 석묵 (seongmuk), 흑연 (ko) (heugyeon)
• Maori: matāpango
• Mongolian: бал чулуу (bal čuluu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: grafitt m

  Nynorsk: grafitt m

• Polish: grafit (pl) m
• Portuguese: grafite (pt), grafita (pt)
• Romanian: grafit (ro) n
• Russian: графи́т (ru) m (grafít)
• Serbo-Croatian: grafit (sh) m
• Slovak: tuha
• Spanish: grafito (es) m
• Swedish: grafit (sv) c, blyerts (sv) c
• Tagalog: hitam, grapito
• Tamil: கடுங்கரி (kaṭuṅkari)
• Thai: ถ่านดำใช้ทำดินสอ
• Vietnamese: than chì (vi)
• Yiddish: גראַפֿיט m (grafit)

composite plastic

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: hiilikuitu (fi), hiilikuitukomposiitti

colour

• Bulgarian: графит m (grafit)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: grafiitinharmaa
• Swedish: blyerts (sv) c

See also

• diamond

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Graphite”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “graphite”, in Mindat.org‎^[2], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.

Anagrams

• earth pig, earth-pig, earthpig

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French

Noun

graphite m (plural graphites)

1. graphite (form of carbon)