alchemy

Word family

Related topics: Chemistry

al·che·my /ˈælkəmi/ noun [uncountableU]

1. HCa science studied in the Middle Ages, that involved trying to change ordinary metals into gold 炼金术

2. literary magic 魔法，法术

—alchemist noun [countableC]

Examples from the Corpus

alchemy• Varo collected pre-Columbian art, studied eastern religions and was fascinated by the occult and alchemy, in particular.• financial alchemy• Newton had indeed been inspired by theories of sympathies and antipathies in alchemy and Hermetic philosophy.• You may be versed in necromancy, and steeped in alchemy, and schooled in the ancient cruel arts of your realm.• But it is a remarkable feat of alchemy indeed.• For this reason, Bachelard refers ironically to Sartre's phenomenology as a belated form of alchemy.• In particular in the sophisticated world of alchemy, the resonances of chemical and other truths were of the utmost importance.• Here was perhaps the nearest thing to alchemy that had ever been seen in the field of politics.• This leads him to focus on the twelfth century, and the mysteries connected with alchemy and the Order of the Temple.

Origin alchemy

(1300-1400) Old French alquemie, from Medieval Latin alchymia, from Arabic al-kimiya “the alchemy”, from Late Greek chemeia; → CHEMOTHERAPY

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus

TOEFL BNC: 22179 COCA: 17003

alchemy

The middle ages: alchemist, alchemy, feudal...