Chemick

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A term historically used to describe substances or processes related to the science of matter and its transformations, especially in older or archaic contexts; also occasionally used to refer to an individual practicing early forms of chemistry or alchemy
2. An archaic or variant expression referring to chemical substances or procedures, often appearing in older texts or when describing the work of early scientific experimenters in materials and compounds
3. A dated word denoting anything pertaining to the study or manipulation of elements and compounds, sometimes indicating the practitioner of such studies during the time before modern scientific terminology was standardized

Etymology: "Chemick" is an obsolete spelling of "chemic," an adjective meaning relating to substances, and the spelling shows its descent from the Latin-based scholarly word for the study of matter. The root is New Latin "chemicus," with variants "chimicus" and "chymicus," a term used by early modern European writers for the art of alchemy and the practical work of preparing substances in the laboratory. The spelling "chemick" belongs to the period when English writers were still settling how to write these borrowings. The "-ick" ending follows the pattern of "-ic" adjectives such as "physick" and "musick," spellings once common in English and later simplified. The adjective "chemic" thus carries the older sense of alchemy's workshop into its modern meaning of substances and their reactions.

Synonyms: chemic, chemical