Diathermous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Permitting heat rays or thermal radiation to pass through a material, as with certain transparent substances
2. Describing a substance or body that lets heat travel across it instead of blocking it
3. Capable of transmitting radiant heat, so that warmth can penetrate from one side to the other

Etymology: "Diathermous" describes a substance that lets heat pass through it, such as glass or air to infrared radiation. It is a technical coinage built entirely from Greek parts: "dia-" meaning "through", "thermo-" from "thermē", meaning "heat", and the English adjectival ending "-ous". Put together, the sense is literally "heat-through" or "transmitting heat." The word belongs to the vocabulary of physics, where it contrasts with "athermanous", a term for materials that block radiant heat. Its parts are ancient, but the combined word is modern, built from classical building blocks to name a property that the Greeks and Romans had no concept of as a measurable quantity.

Synonyms: diathermanous

Antonyms: adiathermous