fuliginous

English

WOTD – 23 April 2011

sooty oystercatcher   
(Haematopus fuliginosus)

Etymology

From Latin fūlīginōsus, from fūlīgō (“soot”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fjuːˈlɪ.d͡ʒɪ.nəs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• Hyphenation: fu‧li‧gi‧nous

Adjective

fuliginous (comparative more fuliginous, superlative most fuliginous)

1. Pertaining to or resembling soot in such features as colour, texture or taste; sooty, dusky. [from 16th c.]
   • 1729, John Woodward, An Attempt Towards a Natural History of The Fossils of England

     …the fuliginous Matter form'd, by the Drift of the Air, into the Shape of a Species of marine Lichen, in Creeks of Chimneys, Stoves, Forges and Furnaces, where there are Fires kept for a considerable Time, and much Fuel spent.

   • 1729, John Woodward, An Attempt Towards a Natural History of The Fossils of England

     ...the Tali, and Septa, are of a more dusky, or, as Wormius expresses it, of a more fuliginous Colour, than ours in England commonly are...

   • 1729, John Woodward, An Attempt Towards a Natural History of The Fossils of England

     I took them at first for natural Fruits of that Shrub, till the Coffee-Man assur'd me that, when they were first put up, there were none of them upon it, and that they were all form'd since... It has a fuliginous Taste, with a considerable Pungency. This Coffee-Room is much frequented: and there are generally several Pots and Boylers before the Fire. Out of the Dust that arises, the Steams of the Coffee, and other Liquors, Smoak of Tobacco, and the Halitus from the Breath of the People, those Bodies are form'd. This sets forth something of the Constitution of the Air of a Coffee-House.

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “chapter XV, Morrison again”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book IV (Horoscope):

     To that dingy fuliginous Operative, emerging from his soot-mill, what is the first duty I will prescribe, and offer help towards? That he clean the skin of him.

   • 1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, Grove Press, published 1961:

     On the beach, masts and chimneys interlaced, and like a fuliginous shadow the figure of Albertine gliding through the surf, fusing into the mysterious quick and prism of a protoplasmic realm, uniting her shadow to the dream and harbinger of death.

   • 1972, John Gardner, Grendel, London, page 10:

     I toy with shouting some tidbit more – some terrifying, unthinkable threat, some blackly fuliginous riddling hex – but my heart's not in it.

   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:

     With its own fuliginous Weather, at once public and private, created of smoke billowing from Pipes, Hearths, and Stoves, the Room would provide an extraordinary sight, were any able to see […]

Derived terms

• fuliginosity
• fuliginously

Translations

pertaining to or resembling soot

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 煤烟色 (meiyinshai)

• Finnish: nokinen (fi)
• French: fuligineux (fr) m, fuligineuse (fr) f
• German: rußig (de)
• Greek: αιθαλώδης (el) (aithalódis)
• Italian: fuliginoso m, fuliginosa f
• Japanese: すすだらけの (susudarakeno)
• Korean: 검댕 (geomdaeng)
• Latin: fūlīginōsus m, fūlīginōsa f, fūlīginōsum n
• Polish: sadzowaty m
• Portuguese: fuliginoso
• Russian: закопчённый (ru) (zakopčónnyj), покрытый сажей (pokrytyj sažej), покрытый копотью (pokrytyj kopotʹju)
• Spanish: fuliginoso (es)

Anagrams

• ignifluous