alum

See also: alúm and ālum

English

Alum (double sulphate of potassium and aluminum)

Alternative forms

• alumn

Etymology 1

From Middle English alum, alum, alym, alyme, from Anglo-Norman alum, alun, from Latin alūmen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæl.əm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Homophone: Allam

Noun

alum (countable and uncountable, plural alums)

1. An astringent salt, usually occurring in the form of pale crystals, much used in the dyeing and tanning trade and in certain medicines, and now understood to be a double sulphate of potassium and aluminium (K₂SO₄·Al₂(SO₄)₃·24H₂O). [from 14th c.]
   • 1991, Felix Gilbert, The Pope, His Banker, and Venice, page 80:

     Venice also needed alum for trade, since it was the point of departure for overland transportation of alum to southern Germany and its cloth-manufacturing Free Cities.

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 201:

     A natural astringent and antiseptic, potassium alum was coveted for its medicinal and cosmetic properties.

2. (inorganic chemistry) Any similar double sulphate in which either or both of the potassium and aluminium is wholly or partly replaced by other univalent or tervalent cations. [from 17th c.]
   • 1807, William Nicholson, editor, A Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts, volume XVIII, page 286:

     With weld and cochineal, which are colouring matters the most sensible to the action of sulphate of iron, the purified alums gave us colours more brilliant, fresh, and in a slight degree lighter; while those with our common alums were all duller, and evidently of a deeper hue.

   • 2000 June, Competition Science Vision, page 486:

     For similar reasons, aluminium sulphate and alums are used in dyeing cloth. […] Normally alums are soluble in water and insoluble in alcohols.

   • 2005, Amit Arora, Text Book Of Inorganic Chemistry, page 386:

     In structure, the alums consist of simple ions, being not complexes, but double salts. Potash alum or potassium alum is the common alum, with the formula KAl(SO₄)₂·12H₂O) which, for convenience, may be written K₂SO₄·Al₂(SO₄)₃·24H₂O

Synonyms

• (double sulphate of potassium and aluminum): potash alum

Translations

chemistry: double sulfate

• Arabic: شَبّ (ar) m (šabb)
• Armenian: շիբ (hy) (šib), պաղլեղ (hy) (paġleġ)
• Avar: рикӏкӏ (rikkʼ)
• Azerbaijani: zəy
• Bengali: ফটকিরি (bn) (phoṭkiri)
• Bulgarian: сти́пца (bg) f (stípca)
• Burmese: ကျောက်ချဉ် (my) (kyaukhkyany)
• Catalan: alum (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 明礬／明矾 (ming⁴ faan⁴)

  Mandarin: 明礬／明矾 (zh) (míngfán)

• Czech: kamenec m
• Dutch: aluin (nl) f
• Finnish: aluna (fi)
• French: alun (fr) m
• Georgian: შაბი (ka) (šabi)
• German: Alaun (de) n
• Greek: στυπτηρία (el) f (styptiría), στύψη (el) f (stýpsi)

  Ancient: στυπτηρία f (stuptēría)

• Hungarian: timsó (hu)
• Indonesian: tawas (id)
• Irish: alúm m, ailím f
• Isan: หินส้ม
• Italian: allume (it) m
• Japanese: ミョウバン (myōban), 明礬 (ja) (みょうばん, myōban)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زاخ (zax)

  Northern Kurdish: şeb (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: زاخ (ku) (zax)

• Lao: ຫິນສົ້ມ (hin som), ສານສົ້ມ (sān som)
• Latin: alūmen n
• Lithuanian: alūnas m
• Malay: tawas (ms), alum (ms)
• Maori: arama
• Middle English: alym
• Mon: တၟံဂစး (tmaʼ gacaḥ)
• Northern Thai: ᩉᩥ᩠ᨶᩈᩫ᩠᩶ᨾ
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} efne f
• Ottoman Turkish: شاب (şab)
• Persian: زاج (fa) (zâj)
• Polish: ałun (pl) m
• Portuguese: alume m, alúmen m
• Romanian: alaun (ro) n
• Russian: квасцы́ (ru) m pl (kvascý)
• Santali: ᱯᱷᱤᱴᱠᱤᱨᱤ (phiṭkiri)
• Serbo-Croatian: stipsa (sh) f, alaun m
• Shan: ႁိၼ်သူမ်ႈ (shn) (hǐn sūum)
• Spanish: alumbre (es) m
• Swedish: alun (sv) c
• Tagalog: tawas (tl)
• Tamil: படிக்காரம் (ta) (paṭikkāram)
• Thai: สารส้ม (th) (sǎan-sôm)
• Turkish: şap (tr)

Derived terms

• alum-basket
• alum cake
• alum earth
• alumed
• alumiferous
• alumina
• aluming
• alumish
• alumium
• alum mine
• alumocalcite
• alum rock, Alum Rock
• alumroot
• alum root
• alum schist
• alum shale
• alum slate
• alumstone
• alum stone
• alum works
• ammonia alum
• burnt alum
• cake alum
• carmalum
• chrome alum
• chrome-ammonia alum
• common alum
• feather alum
• filter alum
• hemalum
• iron alum
• magnesia alum
• manganese alum
• manganoso-magnesium alum
• native alum
• papermaker's alum
• plume alum
• potash alum
• pseudo alum
• rock alum
• Roman alum
• saccharine alum
• silver alum
• soda alum
• sodium alum
• unalumed

 

Related terms

• aluminiferous, aluniferous
• aluminiform
• aluminilite
• aluminise, aluminize
• aluminite
• aluminous
• alunite
• alunogen

See also

• apjohnite
• bosjemanite
• halotrichite
• kalinite
• websterite

Verb

alum (third-person singular simple present alums, present participle aluming, simple past and past participle alumed)

1. (transitive) To steep in, or otherwise impregnate with, a solution of alum; to treat with alum.
   • 1839, Andrew Ure, A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines:

     The silk should be boiled at the rate of 20 parts of soap per cent. , and then alumed. The aluming need not be so strong as for the fine crimson

Derived terms

• unalumed

Translations

To steep in, or otherwise impregnate with, a solution of alum; to treat with alum.

• Catalan: alumenar (ca)
• Finnish: käsitellä alunalla, alunoida
• French: aluner (fr)
• Spanish: alumbrar (es)

Etymology 2

From alumnus and alumna (> alumn- > alum), by the removal of the originally Latin gender-specific nominative singular case endings -us (masculine) and -a (feminine).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈlʌm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm

Noun

alum (plural alums or alumni)

1. (shortening, Canada, US) A past attendee or graduate (of any gender) of a college, university or other educational institution.
   • 1961 Spring, Anchora of Delta Gamma, Volume LXXVII, No. 3, page 59,

     Evanston-North Shore alums are happy to open their homes to Sigma actives for special social events.

   • 2006, Ted Hart, James M. Greenfield, Pamela M. Gignac, Christopher Carnie, Major Donors: Finding Big Gifts in Your Database and Online, page 47:

     You'll remember that we're starting with a list of slightly over 7,000 names that are alums (most of them over 50) that we'd like to whittle down to a manageable list of prospects.

   • 2009, Timothy C. Jacobson, Charity & Merit: Trinity School at 300, page 190:

     All schools that last have alums, and, ancient as it was by American standards, Trinity by mid-century had thousands.

Synonyms

• (of any gender): alumni (often proscribed), alumnx

Hyponyms

• (the original Latin gender-specific loanwords): alumna (feminine), alumnus (of unspecified gender or masculine)

Anagrams

• Mula, malu, Luma, Lamu, Ulam, mula, luma, maul

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.lum/, [ˈa.lʊm]
• Rhymes: -lʊm
• Hyphenation: a‧lum

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Javanese ꦲꦭꦸꦩ꧀ (alum, “not shining, wilted; weak; almost healed”), from Old Javanese alum, alūm, alöm (“withered”).

Adjective

alum

1. wither

   Synonym: layu

2. livid

Noun

alum (plural alum-alum, first-person possessive alumku, second-person possessive alummu, third-person possessive alumnya)

1. bruise

Etymology 2

Unknown (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

alum (plural alum-alum, first-person possessive alumku, second-person possessive alummu, third-person possessive alumnya)

1. coir for washing kitchen utensils, made from synthetic fibers with a rough texture

   Synonym: tapas

Etymology 3

Unknown (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

alum (plural alum-alum, first-person possessive alumku, second-person possessive alummu, third-person possessive alumnya)

1. seven-eyed boil

Further reading

• “alum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Javanese

Romanization

alum

1. Romanization of ꦲꦭꦸꦩ꧀

Latin

Etymology

Unknown.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈaː.lum/, [ˈäːɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.lum/, [ˈäːlum]

Noun

ālum n (genitive ālī); second declension

1. A plant, the comfrey

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	ālum	āla
genitive	ālī	ālōrum
dative	ālō	ālīs
accusative	ālum	āla
ablative	ālō	ālīs
vocative	ālum	āla

References

• alum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “alum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Latvian

Noun

alum m

1. dative singular of alus

Middle English

Noun

alum

1. Alternative form of alym

Old English

Noun

ālum

1. dative plural of āl

Old French

Alternative forms

• allum, alun

Etymology

From Latin alūmen.

Noun

alum oblique singular, m (oblique plural aluns, nominative singular aluns, nominative plural alum)

1. alum

Descendants

• French: alun
• → Middle English: alym, alyme, alum, alume, alumme, alom, alome
  • English: alum
  • Scots: aum, awm, alm
• → Old High German: alūne
  • Middle High German: alūn
    • German: Alaun

References

• alum on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub