DictionaryRoot: al-
Arabic
al-
the
Forms
- al-
- el- — Reflects regional pronunciation or a different transliteration of the Arabic article.
- a- — In some borrowed forms, the l is absorbed into the following consonant, reflecting Arabic pronunciation.
Origin
Arabic al-, the definite article; its deeper Semitic ancestry is disputed.
Note
English often borrowed the article as part of the word, even though Arabic treats it as a separate grammatical element.
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noun
alchemist
AL-kuh-mist/ˈælkəmɪst/
A practitioner seeking extraordinary transformations through alchemy.
Etymology
The practitioner ending identifies someone engaged in alchemy, whose Greek name has an uncertain deeper origin. Such work combined practical chemistry and metallurgy with pursuits such as turning base metals into gold.