lignite

Etymology

It is borrowed from French lignite, introduced by A. Brongniart in 1807,^[2] formed from Latin lignum (“wood”) and the suffix -ite.^[2][3][4][5] Etymonline and Klein think the French word was probably taken from "Lithanthrax Lignius", the name the Swedish chemist Wallerius gave to woody coal in 1775.^[6][5] The Latin noun is from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect”), meaning "that which is gathered", firewood.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A brown coal that still shows the structure of the wood it formed from: 1808, in T. Allan's Alphabetical List of Minerals.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single technical sense.^[2][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records the names brown coal and wood coal, and the adjective lignitic is from the mid 19th century.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1808 – brown coal showing a woody texture.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soft brownish-black coal between peat and bituminous coal in quality, often still showing the texture of the original wood; brown coal.^[8][10][2]

Word family

• lignitic

Related words

• ligneous
• lignin
• lignify

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Watkins, Calvert (2000), "Indo-European Roots", appendix to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins