Teflon

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See also: teflon and téflon

English

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 Teflon on Wikipedia

Etymology

Trade name, 1940s. From the first letters of tetra- (“four”) +‎ fluoro- (“fluorine”) +‎ -on, modeled after nylon etc. From the fluorine count of polytetrafluoroethylene.[1]

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Teflon

  1. A brand name of polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE”) products, latterly applied to other fluoropolymer products.

Derived terms

Noun

Teflon (countable and uncountable, plural Teflons)

  1. Multiple film, resin, coatings, fabric and surface protectors made with PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) or fluoropolymer and surfactants not made with PTFE.
    • 2016 November 9, James Eagle, Donald Trump: Why is the world so surprised?‎, retrieved 30 October 2017:
      ...tweeting in defiance at all those horrendous scandals that were meant to destroy his campaign. He made teflon look sticky.
    • 2022, “Follow the Fool”, performed by Primus:
      Look at that there fool playing dirty tricks
      He must be made of Teflon 'cause nothing ever sticks
      Dancing 'round the room while farting in the breeze
      Friends huff it down like it's American cheese
  2. Synonym of polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE”)

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Adjective

Teflon (not comparable)

  1. (informal, of a person) Having an undamageable reputation (by analogy with nonstick Teflon surfaces).
    a Teflon image
    • 1995, Liz Cunningham, Talking Politics: Choosing the President in the Television Age:
      But Ronald Reagan, by everybody's definition, was the Teflon president, and it wasn't that the media tried to touch him and failed.
    • 2010, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, The Godmother's Web, Gypsy Shadow Publishing, →ISBN, page 33:
      He would have called the man by his first name and said, Not at all, so and so, but though he was very good at remembering names where clients were concerned, there was something very Teflon about these guys and nothing about them was sticking with him.

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References

  1. ^ “Teflon”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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