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phlegm. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
phlegm, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From Middle English flewme, fleume, fleme, from Old French fleume, Middle French flemme (French flegme), and their source, Latin phlegma, from Ancient Greek φλέγμα (phlégma, “flame; inflammation; clammy humor in the body”), from φλέγειν (phlégein, “to burn”). Compare phlox, flagrant, flame, bleak (adjective), fulminate. Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots.
Pronunciation
Noun
phlegm (usually uncountable, plural phlegms)
- (historical) One of the four humors making up the body in ancient and mediaeval medicine; said to be cold and moist, and often identified with mucus.
1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, HarperCollins:Each person's unique mixture of these substances determines his temperament: a predominance of blood gives a sanguine temperament; a predominance of phlegm makes one phlegmatic; yellow bile, bilious (or choleric); and black bile, melancholic.
- Viscid mucus produced by the body, later especially mucus expelled from the bronchial passages by coughing.
- 2005, "Endangered Species?" Hannah Beech, Time, 14 Nov 2005:
- "Even some members of the new bourgeoisie indulge in conspicuously boorish behavior, like hawking phlegm onto the pavement or picking their noses at business meetings."
- (historical, chemistry, alchemy) A watery distillation, especially one obtained from plant matter; an aqueous solution.
1812, Humphry Davy, The Elements of Chemical Philosophy, Introduction, Part I. Vol. I, pp. 50-51:The attempts made to analyse vegetable substances previous to 1720, merely produced their resolution into the supposed elements of the chemists of those days, namely, salts, Earths, phlegm, and sulphur.
- Calmness of temperament, composure; also seen negatively, sluggishness, indifference.
1941, Isaac Asimov, The Early Asimov, Volume 2, published 1974, page 180:Orloff's phlegm broke completely, and he snatched at the monocle as it dropped[.]
1942 October 5, “Warning to Sweden”, in Time:But Swedish Nazis also talked of the necessity of saving Sweden from Bolshevism, and with the menacing Berlin radio gnawing in their ears many Swedes lost their Scandinavian phlegm.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
mucus secreted in the bronchial passages
- Arabic: بَلْغَم m (balḡam), قُشَاعَة f (qušāʕa)
- Egyptian Arabic: بلغم m (balğam)
- Armenian: խորխ (hy) (xorx)
- Assamese: খেঁকাৰ (khẽkar)
- Azerbaijani: bəlğəm
- Bashkir: ҡаҡырыҡ (qaqırıq)
- Belarusian: макро́та f (makróta), харко́ціна f (xarkócina), слізь f (slizʹ)
- Bulgarian: хра́чки (bg) f pl (hráčki), слуз f (sluz)
- Burmese: သလိပ် (my) (sa.lip), အချွဲ (my) (a.hkywai:)
- Catalan: flegma (ca) f, gargall (ca) m
- Cebuano: plema, kughal
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 痰 (zh) (tán)
- Czech: hlen (cs) m, sopel (cs) m, sliz (cs) m
- Danish: slim (da) c or n
- Dutch: slijm (nl) m
- Finnish: lima (fi)
- French: glaire (fr) f
- Galician: flegma f, gargallo (gl) m, esgarro (gl) m
- Georgian: ლორწო (lorc̣o), ლორწოვანი ნახველი (lorc̣ovani naxveli), ნახველი (naxveli)
- German: Schleim (de) m, Nasenschleim (de) m, Popel (de) m
- Greek: φλέματα (el) n pl (flémata)
- Ancient: φλέγμα n (phlégma)
- Hebrew: לֵחָה f, כִּיחַ (he) m (ki'akh)
- Hindi: बलग़म m (balġam), बलगम (hi) m (balgam), कफ (hi) m (kaph), श्लेष्मा (hi) (śleṣmā)
- Icelandic: öndunarfæraslím n, kvefslím n
- Ilocano: turkak
- Indonesian: dahak (id)
- Irish: réama m
- Italian: espettorato (it) m
- Japanese: 痰 (ja) (たん, tan)
- Kapampangan: badlo
- Kazakh: қақырық (qaqyryq)
- Khmer: ស្លេស្ម (km) (slaeh), សេមហកលា (seemhaʼkaʼlaa)
- Kikuyu: kohozi, makorora
- Korean: 담(痰) (ko) (dam)
- Kyrgyz: какырык (ky) (kakırık)
- Lao: ສເລດ (sa lēt), ອາກ (ʼāk)
- Latin: pītuīta f
- Macedonian: слуз f (sluz)
- Malay: kahak (ms)
- Maori: wharo, wharowharo, mare (mi), maremare
- Middle Persian: (please verify) blgm (balgam)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: цэр (mn) (cer), салс (mn) (sals)
- Mongolian: ᠴᠡᠷ (čer), ᠰᠠᠯᠢᠰᠤ (salisu)
- Navajo: chátłʼish
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: slim (no) n
- Nynorsk: slim n
- Ojibwe: agig
- Ottoman Turkish: بلغم (belgam)
- Pashto: بلغم (ps) m (balǧam)
- Persian: بلغم (fa) (balğam)
- Polish: śluz (pl) m, flegma (pl) f
- Portuguese: catarro (pt) m
- Romanian: flegmă (ro) f
- Russian: мокро́та (ru) f (mokróta), слизь (ru) f (slizʹ), фле́гма (ru) f (flégma)
- Sanskrit: श्लेष्मन् (sa) m (śleṣman), कफ (sa) m (kapha), खट (sa) m (khaṭa)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: слу̑з f
- Roman: slȗz (sh) f
- Slovak: hlien m, sliz m
- Slovene: sluz f
- Spanish: flema (es) f
- Swahili: kohozi (sw)
- Swedish: slem (sv) n
- Tagalog: kalaghala, kanaghala, kanighala, plema
- Tajik: балғам (balġam)
- Tamil: சளி (ta) (caḷi)
- Thai: เสลด (th) (sà-lèet), เสมหะ (th) (sěem-hà), สิ่งขาก
- Tibetan: ལུད་པ (lud pa)
- Turkish: balgam (tr)
- Turkmen: gakylyk
- Ukrainian: мокроти́ння n (mokrotýnnja), мокро́та f (mokróta), харкоти́ння f (xarkotýnnja), слиз (uk) f (slyz)
- Urdu: بلغم m (balġam)
- Uyghur: بەلغەم (belghem), خەپرۈك (xeprük)
- Uzbek: balgʻam (uz)
- Vietnamese: đờm (vi)
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calmness, composure
- Bulgarian: му́дност (bg) f (múdnost), флегмати́чност (bg) f (flegmatíčnost)
- Catalan: flegma (ca) f
- Finnish: tyyneys (fi), flegma (fi)
- French: flegme (fr) m
- Galician: flegma f, cachaza (gl) f
- Georgian: ფლეგმატურობა (plegmaṭuroba), სიმშვიდე (simšvide), აუღელვებლობა (auɣelvebloba), გულგრილობა (gulgriloba)
- German: Gemütsruhe (de) f, Gleichmut (de) m, Trägheit (de) f, Schwerfälligkeit f, stoische Ruhe f, Phlegma (de) n
- Greek: φλέγμα (el) n (flégma)
- Icelandic: rólyndi n, deyfð (is) f
- Irish: fuarchúis f
- Italian: flemma (it) f
- Japanese: 冷静さ (れいせいさ, reiseisa)
- Portuguese: fleuma (pt) m or f
- Russian: фле́гма (ru) f (flégma), флегмати́чность (ru) f (flegmatíčnostʹ)
- Spanish: flema (es) f
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Translations to be checked
References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “phlegm”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ “phlegm”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- ^ Hall, Joseph Sargent (1942 March 2) “1. The Vowel Sounds of Stressed Syllables”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 4, page 21.