Etymologically
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volcanic

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:41. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /vɒlˈkænɪk/[1]
  • US: /vɔlˈkænɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French volcanique,[2][3][4][5] from volcan (“volcano”),[3][4] which comes from Italian volcano or vulcano.[4] Etymonline takes the French adjective from Italian vulcanico.[2] The OED instead treats it as a variant of vulcanic remodelled after volcano, and notes that the French adjective is recorded only from 1778.[6] All go back to Latin Vulcānus (“Vulcan, the god of fire”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thrown out by a volcano, or produced by volcanoes; also, of or relating to volcanoes: 1776, in R. E. Raspe's translation of J. J. Ferber's Travels in Italy.[6][4] Etymonline dates it 1774,[2] and Dictionary.com to 1765–75.[7]

Semantic evolution

Raspe's translation of 1776 already used the word of the products of volcanoes, of a region full of volcanoes, and of the geological theory that gave fire the main part in forming rocks, a sense now historical.[6] The figurative use for passionate or explosive feelings, especially anger, is recorded from 1793, and for anything that may suddenly break out violently from 1804;[6] Etymonline dates the figurative sense to 1854.[2] As a noun, a volcanic rock, it appears in 1801,[6][4] and in the plural for outbursts of rage from 1919.[6] Keats's volcanian (1820) is a rare alternative.[2]

Timeline

  • 1776 – produced by volcanoes; relating to volcanoes; of a volcanic region.[6][4]
  • 1793 – figurative, of feelings, intensely passionate or explosive.[6]
  • 1794 – concerned with the study of volcanoes.[6]
  • 1801 – noun, a volcanic rock.[6][4]
  • 1804 – capable of sudden, violent outbreak.[6]
  • 1919 – noun, plural, outbursts of passion.[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or produced by a volcano or volcanoes: volcanic ash fell on the town.
  2. Having many volcanoes, or made of material thrown out by them: a volcanic island.
  3. Like an erupting volcano; liable to sudden, violent outbursts: his volcanic temper.
  4. (geology) Extrusive.

Noun

  1. A rock formed from magma thrown out by a volcano.

Word family

  • volcanically
  • nonvolcanic
  • unvolcanic
  • volcanicity
  • volcaniclastic
  • volcanic cone
  • volcanic ash
  • volcanic bomb

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House