telluric
English
editEtymology
editA borrowing of French tellurique, from Latin tellus (“earth; earthy”) and Tellus (“Earth, Gaia”) and -ique (forming adjectives). Subsequently also from tellurium, originally in telluric oxide from German Telluroxyd.
Adjective
edittelluric (comparative more telluric, superlative most telluric)
- Pertaining to the Earth, earthly
- Synonyms: earthly, terrestrial, tellurian, terrene
- 1981, Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler:
- My sister always says she loves novels where you feel an elemental strength, primordial, telluric.
- (chemistry) Containing tellurium in a lower valency than in tellurous compounds.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editpertaining to the Earth
containing tellurium in a lower valency than in tellurous compounds
Noun
edittelluric (plural tellurics)
- Synonym of telluric current
- 1964, United States. National Bureau of Standards, Technical News Bulletin, volumes 48-49, page 131:
- Other projects in progress at CRPL involve the study of audiofrequency tellurics (current induced in the earth) and earth conductivity measurements using atmospherics.