Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Charcoal |
CharcoalAdjective1. Very dark gray. Noun1. A carbonaceous material obtained by heating wood or other organic matter in the absence of air. 2. A stick of black carbon material used for drawing. 3. A very dark gray color. 4. A drawing made with charcoal. Verb1. Draw, trace, or represent with charcoal. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "charcoal" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
Note: Charcoal \Char"coal`\, noun. [See Char, transitive verb, to burn or to reduce to coal, and Coal.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Chemistry | A form of carbon derived from the incomplete combustion of animal or vegetable matter, e. g. bones or wood. Source: European Union. (references) |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of charcoal unlighted, denotes miserable situations and bleak unhappiness. If it is burning with glowing coals, there is prospects of great enhancement of fortune, and possession of unalloyed joys. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Energy | A material formed from the incomplete combustion or destructive distillation (carbonization) of organic material in a kiln or retort, and having a high energy density, being nearly pure carbon. (If produced from coal, it is coke.) Used for cooking, the manufacture of gunpowder and steel (notably in Brazil), as an absorbent and decolorizing agent, and in sugar refining and solvent recovery. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. It is usually produced by heating wood in the absence of oxygen, but sugar charcoal, bone charcoal (which contains a great amount of calcium phosphate), and others can be produced as well. The light, black, porous material is 85% to 98% carbon, and resembles coal.
The first part of the word is of obscure origin. The independent use of "char", meaning to scorch, to reduce to carbon, is comparatively recent and must be a back-formation from the earlier charcoal. It may be a use of the word charren, meaning to turn, i.e., wood changed or turned to coal; or it may be from the French charbon.
Production of wood charcoal in districts where there is an abundance of wood dates back to a very remote period, and generally consists of piling billets of wood on their ends so as to form a conical pile, openings being left at the bottom to admit air, with a central shaft to serve as a flue. The whole is covered with turf of moistened soil. The firing is begun at the bottom of the flue, and gradually spreads outwards and upwards. The success of the operation both as to the intrinsic value of the product and its amount depends upon the rate of the combustion. Under average conditions, 100 parts of wood yield about 60 parts by volume, or 25 parts by weight, of charcoal.
The modern process of carbonizing wood either in small pieces or as sawdust in cast iron retorts is extensively practised where wood is scarce, and also by reason of the recovery of valuable byproducts (wood spirit, pyroligneous acid, wood tar), which the process permits. The question of the temperature of the carbonization is important; according to J. Percy, wood becomes brown at 220°C., a deep brown-black after some time at 280°, and an easily powdered mass at 310°. Charcoal made at 300° is brown, soft and friable, and readily inflames at 380°; made at higher temperatures it is hard and brittle, and does not fire until heated to about 700°.
One of the most important applications of wood charcoal is as a constituent of gunpowder. It is also used in metallurgical operations as a reducing agent, but its application has been diminished by the introduction of coke, anthracite smalls, etc. A limited quantity is made up into the form of drawing crayons; but the greatest amount is used as a fuel, which burns hotter and cleaner than wood. Charcoal is often used by blacksmiths, for cooking, and for other industrial applications.
The porosity of wood charcoal explains why it floats on the surface of water, although it is actually denser. This also accounts for the property or readily absorbing gases and liquids; charcoal is often used to filter water or absorb odors. Its pharmacological action depends on the same property; it absorbs the gases of the stomach and intestines, and also liquids and solids (hence its use in the treatment of certain poisonings). Charcoal filters are used in some types of gas mask to remove poisonous gases from inhaled air. Wood charcoal has also the power of removing coloring matters from solutions, but this property is possessed in a much higher degree by animal charcoal.
Animal charcoal or bone black is the carbonaceous residue obtained by the dry distillation of bones; it contains only about 10% carbon, the remainder being calcium and magnesium phosphates (80%) and other inorganic material originally present in the bones. It is generally manufactured from the residues obtained in the glue and gelatin industries. Its decolorizing power was applied in 1812 by Derosne to the clarification of the syrups obtained in sugar refining; but its use in this direction has now greatly diminished, owing to the introduction of more active and easily managed reagents. It is still used to some extent in laboratory practice. The decolorizing power is not permanent, becoming lost after using for some time; it may be revived, however, by washing and reheating.
Charcoal is used in art for drawing, making rough sketches in painting, and is one of the possible mediums for making a parsemage. Bamboo charcoal is the principal tool in Japanese Sumi-e (炭絵 lit: charcoal drawing) art.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Charcoal."
Synonyms: CharcoalSynonyms: charcoal-gray (adj), charcoal-grey (adj), charcoal gray (n), charcoal grey (n), fusain (n), oxford gray (n), oxford grey (n), wood coal (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Calefaction | Coke, carbon, charcoal; wood alcohol, turpentine, tea tree oil; gasoline, kerosene, naptha, fuel oil (fuel); wax, paraffin; residue, tar. |
Fuel | Coal, wallsend, anthracite, culm, coke, carbon, charcoal, bituminous coal, tar shale; turf, peat, firewood, bobbing, faggot, log; cinder. (products of combustion); ingle, tinder, touchwood; sulphur, brimstone; incense; port-fire; fire-barrel, fireball, brand; amadou, bavin; blind coal, glance coal; German tinder, pyrotechnic sponge, punk, smudge; solid fueled rocket. |
Painting | Picture, painting, piece, tableau, canvas; oil painting; fresco, cartoon; easel picture, cabinet picture, draught, draft; pencil; drawing, water color drawing, etching, charcoal, pen-and-ink; sketch, outline, study. |
Pallet, palette; easel; brush, pencil, stump; black lead, charcoal, crayons, chalk, pastel; paint; (coloring matter); watercolor, body color, oil color; oils, oil paint; varnish; a, priming; gouache, tempera, distemper, fresco, water glass; enamel; encaustic painting; mosaic; tapestry. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | The Asgard would never invent a weapon that propels small weights of iron and carbon alloys, by igniting a powder of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur (Stargate SG-1; writing credit: Robert C. Cooper; Brad Wright) | |
Lyrics | Charcoal burning everywhere (Pleasant Valley Sunday; performing artist: The Monkees) The fashion victims chew their charcoal teeth (Zero; performing artist: The smashing pumpkins) | |
Clever | You are an engineer if you have a functioning home copier machine, but every toaster you own turns bread into charcoal. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Charcoal Black (1972) Nude in the Charcoal (1962) Charcoal Iron and Steel (1935) | |
Song Titles | Charcoal (performing artist: The Washington Squares) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Charcoal Kilns at GilmoreBirch Creek Valley. Credit: Antonia Hedrick. |  | [A truck transporting a charcoal unit]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | Charcoal and chalk by Commander Griffith Bailey Coale, USNR, Official U.S. Navy Combat Artist, 1944. For more information on this artwork, see: Photo # KN-32031 (complete caption). Credit: NAVY. |  | Charcoal boats in Old Basin, New Orleans, La. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Oyster and charcoal luggers in the old basin, New Orleans, La. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Building military bridges. Making charcoal for the army force. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Brooms and charcoal for sale, Jeanerette, Louisiana. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | A home economics class of children of resettlers are trained to use the tools which they will work with when they grow up. Note charcoal trough and oven made out of a gasoline can. La Plata project. Puerto Rico. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Charcoal" by Ralph Spegel Commentary: "Charcoal "skeleton"." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Obscene pictures could be discovered upon them coarsely sketched in charcoal. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Activated charcoal tablets (Charcocaps) may provide relief from gas in the colon. (references) | |
For example, activated charcoal has been found ineffective in the treatment of diarrhea. (references) | ||
No antiperistaltic agents (e.g., Lomotil and Imodium) are effective in preventing TD. No data support the prophylactic use of activated charcoal. (references) | ||
Economic History | Somalia | Illegal production in the south of charcoal for export has led to widespread deforestation. (references) |
Rwanda | Depletion of the forests will eventually pressure Rwandans to turn to fuel sources other than charcoal for cooking and heating. (references) | |
Djibouti | The single-track railway--a prime source of employment--occupies a prominent place in Ethiopia's internal distribution system for domestic commodities such as cement, cotton textiles, sugar, cereals and charcoal. (references) | |
Political Economy | Somalia | The principal exports are livestock and charcoal; there is very little industry. (references) |
BRAZIL | The Ministry of Labor and the Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) have documented cases of forced labor in a variety of rural activities including forest clearing, logging, charcoal production, livestock raising, and agriculture. (references) | |
Trade | Thailand | Products subject to export controls are wildlife, beans, charcoal, coal, coffee, rice, corn, sand , gold, fuel, decorative sea fish and certain species of marine life, fertilizers, Buddha images, teak wood, fresh longans, garments, orchids, donkeys and horses. (references) |
Worker Rights | Brazil | The ILO's Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) sponsors programs in footwear, charcoal, citrus, sisal, and domestic service. (references) |
Brazil | Forced labor typically involves young men drawn from the impoverished Northeast, but women and children also have been found in activities such as charcoal production. (references) | |
Brazil | Common rural activities include fishing, mining, raising livestock, producing charcoal, and harvesting sugarcane, sisal, tobacco, cotton, citrus fruits, and a variety of other crops. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Charcoal" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Charcoal" is used about 504 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 504 | 11,979 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "charcoal": activated charcoal ♦ Animal charcoal ♦ be poisoned by charcoal fumes ♦ bone charcoal ♦ charcoal black ♦ Charcoal blacks ♦ charcoal burner ♦ charcoal drawing ♦ charcoal gray ♦ charcoal grey ♦ charcoal kiln ♦ charcoal pencil ♦ charcoal pig iron ♦ Charcoal point ♦ decolorizing charcoal ♦ mineral charcoal ♦ turn into charcoal. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "charcoal": charcoal-brown, charcoal-burner, charcoal-burners, charcoal-burning, charcoal-effect, charcoal-fired, charcoal-gray, charcoal-grey, charcoal-grilled, charcoal-impregnated, charcoal-like, charcoal-rich, charcoal-suited. | |
Ending with "charcoal": gouache-pastel-charcoal. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "charcoal"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | qymyr druri (char). (various references) | |
Arabic | فحمي (carbonic, coaly, sooty black), فحم (carbon, char, coal), قلم فحمي, الفحم. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | рисунка с въглен, въглен (coal), дървени въглища (coal). (various references) | |
Catalan | carbó. (various references) | |
Chinese | 木炭 . (various references) | |
Czech | kreslířský uhel, dřevìné uhlí. (various references) | |
Danish | traekul (char). (various references) | |
Dutch | houtskool (carbon pencil, char), dovekool. (various references) | |
Esperanto | lignokarbo, braĝo. (various references) | |
Farsi | زغال چوب . (various references) | |
Finnish | sysi, puuhiili (char), piirustushiili (carbon pencil), hiili (carbon, coal). (various references) | |
French | charbon de bois (char). (various references) | |
Frisian | houtskoal. (various references) | |
German | holzkohle (char). (various references) | |
Greek | ξυλοκάρβουνο. (various references) | |
Hebrew | פחם (coal). (various references) | |
Hungarian | faszén (char, wood char, xylanthrax), szénné égett fa, rajzszén (black chalk, crayon), növényi szén, állati szén (bone black, char). (various references) | |
Indonesian | arang (cinder, coke, slag). (various references) | |
Italian | carbone di legna. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 炭. (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | すみ (arranged, corner, ink, nook, settled, taken care of), もくたん. (various references) | |
Korean | 목탄. (various references) | |
Malay | arang. (various references) | |
Manx | geaylagh craue, geayl foiee, caslys geaylagh. (various references) | |
Maori | waro. (various references) | |
Maya | chuuk. (various references) | |
Norwegian | trekull. (various references) | |
Papiamen | karbon. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | arcoalchay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | carvão de lenha (char), carvão vegetal (xylanthrax). (various references) | |
Romanian | cãrbune de lemn, mangal (brazier, calender, char), desena în cãrbune. (various references) | |
Russian | древесный уголь (char, xylanthrax). (various references) | |
Sepedi | magala. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | drveni ugalj, ćumur (xylanthrax). (various references) | |
Spanish | carbón (carbon, coal, fuel), carbón vegetal (carbon, char, decolorizing carbon, decolorizing charcoal). (various references) | |
Swedish | träkol (char). (various references) | |
Turkish | mangal kömürü, karakalem resim (charcoal drawing), karakalem (charcoal pencil, drawing pencil, pencil). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | рашкуль, вугільний олівець, отруїти чадом, малювати вугільним олівцем, малюнок вугільним олівцем, деревне вугілля (char). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | người đốt than lò đốt than (charcoal-burner). (various references) | |
Welsh | marworyn (ember). (various references) | |
Yucatec | chuuk. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | carbo. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "charcoal": charcoaled, charcoaling, charcoals. (additional references) | |
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"Charcoal" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: carceral, carcoal, chacmool, chacra, charcoat, charcol, charol, chatcoal, ochracea. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-c-h-l-o-r" | |
-1 letter: caracol, caroach. | |
-2 letters: calcar, caroch, choral, cloaca. | |
-3 letters: aloha, cacao, carol, clach, claro, coach, coala, coral, craal, horal, lahar, larch, loach, orach, roach. | |
-4 letters: alar, arch, arco, caca, calo, carl, chao, char, coal, coca, cola, croc, haar, halo, harl, hoar, hora, loca, loch, oral, orca. | |
-5 letters: aah, aal, aha, ala, arc, car, col, cor, hao. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-c-c-h-l-o-r" | |
+1 letter: carbachol, charcoals. | |
+2 letters: carbachols, charcoaled. | |
+3 letters: chancroidal, charcoaling, monarchical. | |
+4 letters: agrochemical, oligarchical, saccharoidal, theocratical, thoracically. | |
+5 letters: agrochemicals, archeological, archidiaconal, cacographical, chromatically, monarchically, ochlocratical, pharmacologic, radiochemical, thalassocracy. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
