spontaneous combustion

English

Noun

spontaneous combustion (countable and uncountable, plural spontaneous combustions)

1. Combustion without an external source of heat.

   Synonym: autocombustion

   • 1940 May, “The Why and the Wherefore: Pulverised Fuel Experiment”, in Railway Magazine, page 318:

     The experiment was abandoned when one fine day spontaneous combustion of the pulverised coal in the container occurred, and a black cloud of the very finely divided fuel rose into the air by the force of the explosion, and was slowly wafted by the prevailing breeze over the town, upon which it descended with the resemblance of black snow, but with the dissimilarity that it did not melt.

Derived terms

• spontaneous human combustion

Translations

combustion without a source of heat

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自燃 (zh) (zìrán)

• Finnish: itsesyttyminen
• German: Selbstentzündung (de) f
• Greek: αυτανάφλεξη (el) f (aftanáflexi)
• Polish: samozapłon m
• Portuguese: combustão espontânea f
• Romanian: combustie spontană f, autoaprindere (ro) f, autoaprins n (rare)
• Russian: самовозгора́ние (ru) n (samovozgoránije)
• Swedish: självantändning c
• Tagalog: kusang-liyab
• Ukrainian: самозайма́ння n (samozajmánnja)

See also

• burst into flames