| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024al•che•my /ˈælkəmi/USA pronunciation n. [uncountable]- a form of chemistry of the Middle Ages that tried to discover an elixir of life and a method for changing ordinary metals into gold.
- any seemingly magical process of changing something ordinary into something superior.
al•che•mist, n. [countable] WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024al•che•my (al′kə mē),USA pronunciation n., pl. -mies for 2.- a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.
- any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.
- Greek kēmeía transmutation; replacing Middle English alconomye, equivalent. to alk(imie) + (astr)onomye astronomy
- Arabic al the + kīmiyā'
- Medieval Latin alchymia
- Old French alquemie
- 1325–1375; earlier alchimie
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: alchemy /ˈælkəmɪ/ n ( pl -mies)- the pseudoscientific predecessor of chemistry that sought a method of transmuting base metals into gold, an elixir to prolong life indefinitely, a panacea or universal remedy, and an alkahest or universal solvent
- a power like that of alchemy: her beauty had a potent alchemy
Etymology: 14th Century alkamye, via Old French from Medieval Latin alchimia, from Arabic al-kīmiyā', from al the + kīmiyā' transmutation, from Late Greek khēmeia the art of transmutationalchemic /ælˈkɛmɪk/, alˈchemical, ˌalchemˈistic adj |