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chemistry

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English

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Etymology

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    First coined 1605, from chemist +‎ -ry. From chemist, chymist, from Latin alchimista, from Arabic اَلْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from article اَل (al-) + Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeía, art of alloying metals), from χύμα (khúma, fluid), from χυμός (khumós, juice), from χέω (khéō, to pour).

    Pronunciation

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    • enPR: kĕm'ĭstrē, IPA(key): /ˈkɛm.ɪ.stɹi/
    • Audio (US):(file)

    Noun

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    chemistry (countable and uncountable, plural chemistries)

    1. (uncountable) The branch of natural science that deals with the composition and constitution of substances and the changes that they undergo as a consequence of alterations in the constitution of their molecules.
    2. (countable) An application of chemical theory and method to a particular substance.
      • 1979 December 29, Tia Cross, “Lesbian Family Album”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 23, page 14:
        Learning the very complicated chemistries necessary to reproduce reality into a picture using light
      • 1984, North American Lake Management Society, Lake and Reservoir Management: Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference, page 250:
        The aquatic chemistries of iron and manganese are similar; this “is reflected geologically in their common association in rocks of all kinds” (Bortleson and Lee, 1974).
    3. The chemical properties and reactions of a particular organism, environment etc.
      • 2022 September 29, Carl Zimmer, “A New Approach to Spotting Tumors: Look for Their Microbes”, in The New York Times[1]:
        But some microbes manage to move to new organs to get inside tumors. It’s possible that the particular chemistry inside a tumor, such as its level of oxygen, helps determine which microbes will thrive there.
    4. (informal) The mutual attraction between two people; rapport.
      The on-screen chemistry between the lead actors led many viewers to believe they were a couple in real life.
      The coach attributed their losses to poor team chemistry.
      • 2019 February 25, Brett Dawson, Fred Katz, “How power forward Markieff Morris might fit in with the Thunder”, in The Athletic[2]:
        He and [Dennis] Schröder developing pick-and-roll chemistry will certainly be an objective. [Markieff] Morris has a tendency to linger around the mid-range area after setting ball screens, but when he’s popping beyond the 3-point line, he can hurt defenses.
    5. (medicine, countable, informal, sometimes proscribed) A blood test to measure the amount of various components of the serum (such as electrolytes, creatinine, and glucose).
      Coordinate term: serology
      Diagnosis is presumptive by history and physical examination and is confirmed by chemistries.

    Usage notes

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    • Historical note: This word and its derivatives were formerly spelled chy- or sometimes chi- (i.e., chymistry, chymist, chymical, etc., or chimistry, chimist, chimical, etc.) with pronunciation depending on the spelling.
    • Chymistry is now sometimes used specifically to refer to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century chemistry, when it was not yet fully distinct from alchemy.

    Meronyms

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    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • Amharic: ኬሚስትሪ (kemistri)

    Translations

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