Odyl

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A hypothetical force, proposed in the nineteenth century by Baron von Reichenbach, that was believed to permeate living things and certain natural phenomena
2. An imagined vital energy, named by Reichenbach, that was once thought to radiate from magnets, crystals and living bodies alike
3. A pseudoscientific life force posited in the 1800s, which its proponents claimed flowed through people, magnets and crystals

Etymology: Odyl was coined in the 1840s by the German chemist Karl von Reichenbach, who believed he had found a previously unknown force. He named it after "od," a word he invented himself, and attached it to the Greek "hūlē," meaning wood, matter or substance. The result was a term for a supposed vital energy that Reichenbach claimed was emitted by magnets, crystals, living bodies and certain people, and that could be seen by sensitive observers in darkness. The word is therefore a deliberate coinage rather than a term that drifted from some older sense. Its Greek element was chosen for its general meaning of material stuff, reflecting Reichenbach's belief that the force was a physical substance. Odyle is the modern standard spelling, and odyl is the obsolete form of the same word.

Synonyms: od, odyle