Plutonic
English
editEtymology
editFrom Ancient Greek Πλούτων (Ploútōn, “Pluto, Greek and Roman god of the underworld”) (from πλοῦτος (ploûtos, “riches, wealth”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to fly; to flow; to run”)) + -ων (-ōn)) + -ic (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). The English word is cognate with Middle French plutonique (modern French plutonique (“of or pertaining to Pluto, the underworld, or the interior of the Earth”)).[1]
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /pluːˈtɒnɪk/
- (General American) IPA(key): /pluˈtɑnɪk/
- Hyphenation: plu‧ton‧ic
Adjective
editPlutonic (comparative more Plutonic, superlative most Plutonic)
- (Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Synonym of Plutonian (“of or relating to Pluto, the Greek and Roman god of the underworld; demonic, infernal”)
- (by extension) Synonym of Plutonian (“of, relating to, or having characteristics associated with the underworld; dark, gloomy; mournful”)
- 1911, G. K. Chesterton, “The Sins of Prince Saradine”, in The Innocence of Father Brown:
- a dark, handsome lady, of no little majesty, and rather like a plutonic Madonna
- (by extension, geology, mineralogy) Of or pertaining to rocks formed deep in the Earth's crust, rather than by volcanoes at the surface of the Earth.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- These cliffs, I may remark, are basaltic, and therefore plutonic.
- (by extension, geology, historical) Of, pertaining to, or supporting plutonism (“the theory that the rocks of the Earth were formed in fire by volcanic activity, with a continuing gradual process of weathering and erosion, then deposited on the sea bed, re-formed into layers of sedimentary rock by heat and pressure, and raised again”).
- Synonym: Plutonian
Alternative forms
editTranslations
editof or pertaining to rocks formed deep in the Earth's crust
References
edit- ^ “Plutonic, adj. and n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2006; “Plutonic, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *plew-
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms suffixed with -ic
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- en:Greek mythology
- en:Roman mythology
- English terms with quotations
- en:Geology
- en:Mineralogy
- English terms with historical senses
- English eponyms
- en:Rocks