inflammable
nounEtymology From Middle French inflammable, from Medieval Latin īnflammābilis, from Latin īnflammāre (“to set on fire”), from in (“in, on”) + flamma (“flame”). Equivalent to inflame + -able.
1
Any inflammable substance.
inflammable
adj/ɪnˈflæməbəl/ · [ɪnˈflæməbl̩] ~ [ɪɱˈflæməbl̩]
Etymology From Middle French inflammable, from Medieval Latin īnflammābilis, from Latin īnflammāre (“to set on fire”), from in (“in, on”) + flamma (“flame”). Equivalent to inflame + -able.
1
Capable of burning.
2
Easily set on fire.
- On he went a few paces and touched a second, then a third, and a fourth, till at last we were surrounded on all three sides by a great ring of bodies flaring furiously, the material with which they were preserved having rendered them so inflammable that the flames would literally spout out of the ears and mouth in tongues of fire a foot or more in length.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
3
Figuratively Easily excited; set off by the slightest excuse; easily enraged or inflamed.
4
Nonstandard Incapable of burning; not easily set on fire. From in- + flammable, via backformation.
- Derived terms
- inflammableness, inflammably
- Related terms
- flammule, inflame, inflammability, inflammable air, inflammable cinnabar, inflammation