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phosphate

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Phosphate and phosphaté

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia Wikipedia
phosphate group 2D structural formula
phosphate ion 3D structural formula

From French phosphate. By surface analysis, phosphoric acid +‎ -ate (“salt or ester”).

Noun

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phosphate (plural phosphates)

  1. (chemistry) Any salt or ester of phosphoric acid.
    • 2009 February 26, Julie Scelfo, “When It Comes to Detergents, What’s the Least Irresponsible Choice?”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      Make sure you don’t use detergents with phosphates or nonylphenol ethoxylate surfactants, but that information is rarely available on the labels.
  2. (agriculture) Any fertiliser containing phosphate compounds.
  3. Guano (containing high levels of phosphates and harvested for the fertiliser industry).
  4. (US, regional, dated) A carbonated soft drink containing phosphoric acid, often flavored with a fruit-based syrup.
    • 1920, Irving P. Fox, The Spatula, page 27:
      An egg phosphate is a phosphate to which an egg has been added in the proper manner. While an egg phosphate can be flavored with any syrup that makes a good phosphate, still the standard flavor by long usage has com to be orange […]
    • 2002, Michael Raleigh, In the castle of the Flynns, page 180:
      “This man here,” she said, “can make you a cherry Coke or a chocolate Coke or a phosphate — a chocolate phosphate or. “Vanilla phosphate,” the man helped, “cherry phosphate, orange phosphate, lime phosphate, lemon phosphate,
    • 2008, Kathryn Kysar, Riding shotgun: women write about their mothers, page 106:
      You order California burgers for us both, even though I don't eat lettuce or tomato, then you order me a phosphate, cherry, a dreadful fizzy drink you say you always loved. It's bitter, bubbly, unbearable; but, thirsty for your past, force myself to drink it.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From phosphoric acid +‎ -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Verb

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phosphate (third-person singular simple present phosphates, present participle phosphating, simple past and past participle phosphated)

  1. To treat or coat with a phosphate or phosphoric acid.
Translations
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French

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Etymology

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From phosphore +‎ -ate.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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phosphate m (plural phosphates)

  1. phosphate

Descendants

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  • → English: phosphate
  • → Portuguese: fosfato

Further reading

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