carbon
//ˈkɑɹ.bən//
Forms
- Plural
- carbons
- present (v1)
- carbon
- past (v2)
- carboned
- past participle (v3)
- carboned
- present participle
- carboning
- 3rd person singular
- carbons
Definitions
1.The chemical element (symbol C) with an atomic number of 6. It can be found in pure form for example as graphite, a black, shiny and very soft material, or diamond, a colourless, transparent, crystalline solid and the hardest known material.
- Carbon is the most common element in our bodies, indeed, in all living things on earth.
- All life as we know it has carbon as the backbone of many of its molecules; carbon’s tetravalence gives it special importance in biochemical molecular bonds.
2.An atom of this element, in reference to a molecule containing it.
- A methane molecule is made up of a single carbon with four hydrogens.
3.A sheet of carbon paper.(informal)
- He stepped back and opened his bag and took out a printed pad of D.O.A. forms and began to write over a carbon.
4.A carbon copy.(informal)
- Press firmly: you are making a carbon.
- Please provide me with a carbon of your form.
1.To send a carbon copy of an email message to.
- When I send it, I’ll carbon Julia so she’s aware.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2675
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Word family
Etymology
Borrowed from French carbone, coined by Antoine Lavoisier, from Latin carbō, carbōnem (“charcoal, coal”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kerh₃- (“to burn”).
By surface analysis, carbo- + -on.