Vitreous
/ˈvɪt.ri.əs/noun
Resembling or made of glass; transparent and glasslike.
Did you know?Latin *vitrum* meant “glass,” and it also gave rise to *vitriol* through medieval alchemical naming, because glassmaking and corrosive substances were both wrapped in the language of hidden transformations.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*wed-
“to be wet, flow, or water-like”
Latin
Latin
vitrum
“glass; also the blue-purple dye plant woad in some later Latin usage”
Late Latin
Latin
vitreus
“made of glass; glassy, transparent”
Old French
Old French
vitre
“pane of glass, window glass”
Middle English
English
vitreous
“glasslike; shining like glass”
Modern English
English
vitreous
“resembling or made of glass; transparent and glasslike”
Explore more surprising origins