English

Etymology
From OF. term|alkemie|langfro, term|arquemie|langfro (French term|alchimie|langfr) < ML. term|alkimia|langla < Arab. term|scARchar|����اء|ا�����اء|tral-kīmiy��|langar < AGr. term|scpolytonic|�ημεία|langgrc or term|scpolytonic|��μεία|trch�meia or chymeia|langgrc originally �a mingling, infusion, juice, liquid, especially as extracted from plants� and later �alchemy� < perhaps both term|scpolytonic|Χημία|trCh�mia||black earth (ancient name for Egypt)|langgrc and term|scpolytonic|��μ��|langgrc|trchymos||juice, sap. (Compare Spanish term|alquimia|langes and Italian term|alchimia|langit).

Pronunciation
audio|en-us-alchemy.ogg|Audio (US)

Noun
en-noun|alchemies

1. obsolete Chemistry and in particular pharmaceutical chemistry (as practised in the Middle Ages); searching for a panacea.
2. The speculative medieval philosophical art of changing objects from one element into another, principally (historically) attempting to turn lead and other base metals into gold; pseudo-science.
3. The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.
4. context|computing|slang Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.

Derived terms
alchemical
alchemist
alchemistic

Translations
trans-top|chemistry searching for panacea
Chinese: ���, ��� (liàn jīn shù)
Croatian: t-|hr|alkemija|f
Finnish: t-|fi|alkemia
French: t+|fr|alchimie|f
German: t+|de|Alchemie|f
trans-mid
Greek: t|el|αλ�ημεία|f|tralchimeía|scGrek
Japanese: ��� (�������, renkinjutsu), ��� (�������, �gonjutsu), �丹� (�������, rentanjutsu)
trans-bottom

trans-top|chemistry searching for method to turn cheap metals to gold
Chinese: t|cmn|���|scHani|xsMandarin, ��� (liàn jīn shù)
Croatian: t-|hr|alkemija|f
Finnish: t-|fi|alkemia
French: t+|fr|alchimie|f
trans-mid
German: t+|de|Alchemie|f
Greek: t|el|αλ�ημεία|f|tralchimeía|scGrek
Japanese: ��� (�������, renkinjutsu), ��� (�������, �gonjutsu), �丹� (�������, rentanjutsu)
trans-bottom

trans-top|causing of mysterious transmutation
Croatian: t-|hr|alkemija|f
French: t+|fr|alchimie|f
trans-mid
trans-bottom

checktrans-top
ttbc|Arabic: Arab|����اء|ا�����اء (al-kīmiy��) f
ttbc|Catalan: alquímia f
ttbc|Dutch: alchemie f
ttbc|Hebrew: �������|�ַ�ְ�ִּ��ְ�ָ� (alkimiya) f
ttbc|Hungarian: alkímia
ttbc|Indonesian: alkimia
ttbc|Italian: alchimia f
trans-mid
ttbc|Korean: ��� (yeon-geumsul)
ttbc|Latin: alchemia f
ttbc|Lithuanian: alchemija f
ttbc|Portuguese: alquimia f
ttbc|Spanish: alquimia f
ttbc|Swedish: alkemi
trans-bottom

See also
elixir of life
philosophers' stone|philosophers� stone

References
R:Webster 1913|alchemy
R:Online Etymology Dictionary|alchemy
pedialite

Category:Alchemy|

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• 2007-12-29 09:56 - Stephen G. Brown - /* Translations */

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