Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Phlegm |
PhlegmNoun1. Apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions. 2. Expectorated matter; saliva mixed with discharges from the respiratory passages; in ancient and medieval physiology it was believed to cause sluggishness. 3. Inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "phlegm" was first used: 14th century. (references) |
Etymology: Phlegm \Phlegm\, noun. [French expression phlegme, flegme, from Latin expression phlegma, from the Greek expression flame, inflammation, phlegm, morbid, clammy humor in the body, from to burn. Compare to Phlox, Flagrant, Flame, Bleak, adjective, and Fluminate.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Food & Agriculture | The first portion of the distillate which is particularly rich in volatile impurities. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In mediaeval medicine, phlegm was counted as one of the four bodily humours, which possessed the properties of coldness and wetness and was responsible for apathetic and sluggish behaviour. This old belief is preserved in the word phlegmatic.
"Healthy" phlegm is normally clear or white. Yellow phlegm is normally a sign of an infection. Greenish or brownish phlegm is nearly always a sign of infection.
Bloody sputum can be a symptom of serious disease (such as tuberculosis), but can also be a relatively benign symptom of a minor disease (such as bronchitis). In the latter case, the sputum is normally lightly streaked with blood. Coughing up any significant quantity of blood is always a serious medical condition and warrants immediate treatment.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Phlegm."
Synonyms: PhlegmSynonyms: emotionlessness (n), impassiveness (n), impassivity (n), indifference (n), languor (n), lethargy (n), sluggishness (n), sputum (n), stolidity (n), unemotionality (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Insensibility | Noun: insensibility, insensibleness; moral insensibility; inertness, inertia; vis inertiae; impassibility, impassibleness; inappetency, apathy, phlegm, dullness, hebetude, supineness, lukewarmness. |
Semiliquidity | Jelly, mucilage, gelatin, gluten; carlock, fish glue; ichthyocol, ichthycolla; isinglass; mucus, phlegm, goo; pituite, lava; glair, starch, gluten, albumen, milk, cream, protein; treacle; gum, size, glue (tenacity); wax, beeswax. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Phlegm |
| English words defined with "phlegm": Apophlegmatic ♦ coughing up ♦ Dephlegm ♦ hawk, hawk and spit, humor, humour, Hydrotic ♦ Phlegmagogue, phlegmy, Pituite, ptyalize ♦ Robitussin ♦ spew, spit, spue. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "phlegm": Cardinal Humours ♦ PSIDIUM GUJAVA. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "phlegm": Apophlegmatic ♦ Englaimed ♦ Phlegmagogue, Phlegmasia, Pituitary ♦ Sauseflem. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Play | Caption |
 | Phlegm; mucus; phlegmy; snot; snotty. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Physicians can prescribe medications to help reduce fatigue, ease muscle cramps, control spasticity, and reduce excess saliva and phlegm. (references) | |
People who smoke marijuana often develop the same kinds of breathing problems that cigarette smokers have. They have symptoms of daily cough and phlegm (chronic bronchitis) and more frequent chest colds. (references) | ||
Indeed, about 9 out of 10 sarcoidosis patients have some type of lung problem, with nearly one-third of these patients showing some respiratory symptoms--usually coughing, either dry or with phlegm, and dyspnea. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Phlegm" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.36% of the time. "Phlegm" is used about 61 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) | 98.36% | 60 | 43,597 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.64% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 61 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "phlegm" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Phlegm | Last name | 170 | 45,904 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "phlegm": become blocked with phlegm ♦ congest with phlegm ♦ spit phlegm. Additional references. | |
| 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. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
phlegm | 82 | cough phlegm | 4 |
in phlegm throat | 10 | phlegm white | 4 |
phlegm throat | 10 | brown phlegm | 4 |
green phlegm | 8 | cause phlegm | 3 |
phlegm yellow | 7 | clear phlegm | 3 |
blood in phlegm | 6 | coughing phlegm up | 3 |
get phlegm rid | 6 | excess phlegm | 3 |
color phlegm | 5 | home phlegm remedy | 2 |
excessive phlegm | 5 | lymphatic phlegm | 2 |
bloody phlegm | 4 | blood phlegm | 2 |
phlegm remedy | 2 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "phlegm"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | plogështi (angularity, apathy, idleness, inaction, indolence, inertia, languor, lassitude, sloth, tardiness, torpor), ngadalësi (tardiness), gjakftohtësi (aplomb, calmness, coolness, equanimity, impassibility, impassivity, moderation, nerve, order, placidity, presence of mind, recollection, sangfroid, self control, self possession, serenity, unconcern), gëlbazë (expectoration, sputum). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | لا مبالاة (apathy, carelessness, disinterest, disinterestedness, easiness, impassivity, indifference, insouciance, nonchalance, thickskin, unconcern), رباطة جأش (aplomb, collection, composure, coolness, equanimity, nonchalance, philosophy, placidity, poise, repose, self possession), بلغم, برودة (chilliness, coldness, coolness, frigidity, unfriendliness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | слуз (mucus, slime), храчки (sputa), флегма, мудност (inaction, inertia, inertness, ponderosity, tardiness), апатичност (inanimation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 痰 (spittle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | neteènost (apathy, indifference, indolence), hlen (slime), flegmatiènost. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | pituita (pituita), slim (mucus, pituita, single-primary type linear motor, single-sided linear motor, skin mucus, SLIM, slime). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | flegma (indifference). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | muko (mucus), flegmo (indifference). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | slím (mucus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | مخاط, خلط (Mucus), خونسردی (Composure, Indifference, Unconcern), بیحالی (Lethargy, Paralysis), بلغم (Mucus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | paluutisle, esitisle (first runnings, foreshots, heads). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | flegme. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Phlegma (apathy, indifference, sluggishness, stolidness, torpidity, torpor), Schleim (gruel, mucilage, mucus, rheum, slime). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | φλέγμα (mucus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | לחה (fluid, humidity, humour, moisture, pus, sputum), פלגמטיות (phlegmatism), אדישות (apathy, impassivity, indifference, inertness, listlessness, neutrality, unconcern), כיח (hawk, mucus, spittle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | váladék (eduction, excretion, matter, ooze, secretion), turha (rheum), nyálka (mucilage, mucus, rheum, slaver, slime). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | gelama (mucus), geladir (mucus, slime), dahak (sputum). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | flemma (calm, coolness, phlegma). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 粘液 (mucilage, mucus, viscous liquid). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | たん (.245 acres, 300 tsubo, coveting, grief, lamentation, roll of cloth, sigh), ねんえきしつ, ねんえき (annual profit, mucilage, mucus, viscous liquid). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 담 (fence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | shelley (expectorate, expectoration, saliva, slaver, spit, spittle, sputum), feayr-chooish (frigidity, impassiveness, imperturbability, indifference, languidness, self-possession). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | egmphlay fleuma (apathy, coolness, indifference, stolidity), calma (aplomb, calm, calmness, composure, cool, coolness, countenance, détente, easygoing, halcyon, hush, imperturbability, indifference, lenience, leniency, lull, placidity, quiet, quietness, self possession, serenity, silence, still, temper, tranquility, tranquillity). (various references) sânge rece (cold blood, cold-bloodedness, nerve, self possession, self-command, temper), indiferenţã (apathy, carelessness, coldness, coolness, detachment, disregard, equanimity, frigidity, indifference, insensibility, listlessness, nonchalance, recklessness, regardlessness, remissness, sloth, torpor, unconcern), flegmã (expectoration, sputum). (various references) флегма (reflux). (various references) smug (snot, spittle). (various references) sluz (mucus, rheum). (various references) flema (imperturbability, mucus, sluggishness), esputo (mucus, spit, sputum). (various references) slem (expectoration, mucus, slime). (various references) balgam (expectoration, indifference, mucus, pituitary, sputum). (various references) gakylyk (phlegmy). (various references) слиз (mucilage, mucus, slime), флегматичність (stolidity), флегма (reflux), мокротиння (spit, sputum). (various references) tính lạnh lùng (stoniness), tính lờ phờ uể oải. (various references) crachboer, cornboer. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | phlegma. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | mucus, pituita, virus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "phlegm": phlegmatic, phlegmatically, phlegmier, phlegmiest, phlegms, phlegmy. (additional references) | |
| |
"Phlegm" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: flegm, pheglm, Phelam, phelgm, phem, phle, phleg, phleghm, phlegma, phlegmy, phlegn, phlem, phleum, phlog, pleg, Pulheim. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words ending with "egm": Pegm. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-h-l-m-p" | |
-2 letters: helm, help, hemp. | |
-3 letters: elm, gel, gem, hem, hep, leg, meg, mel, peg, peh. | |
-4 letters: eh, el, em, he, hm, me, pe. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-h-l-m-p" | |
+1 letter: megilph, phlegms, phlegmy. | |
+2 letters: megilphs. | |
+3 letters: galumphed, phlegmier. | |
+4 letters: hemiplegia, hemiplegic, phlebogram, phlegmatic, phlegmiest. | |
+5 letters: blaspheming, hemiplegias, hemiplegics, lamplighter, phlebograms. | |
| 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. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 68 6C 65 67 6D |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
|
| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
|
| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
|
Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .... .-.. . --. -- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
|
| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "phlegm" |
