camphor

 

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camphor

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From Old French camphore or Medieval Latin camphora, from Arabic كَافُور (kāfūr), in turn from an Austronesian word such as Malay kapur.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkæmfɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkæmfə/

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camphor (countable and uncountable, plural camphors)

1. (organic chemistry) A white transparent waxy crystalline isoprenoid ketone, 1,7,7-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-one, with a strong pungent odour, used in pharmacy.
   • 1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter X, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC:

     I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odour of camphor was unmistakable. It struck me as singularly odd, that among the universal decay, this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousand years.