Sulfurets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Compounds formed when sulfur combines with a metal, often found as minerals in ore deposits
2. Chemical combinations of sulfur and metallic elements, an older name for what chemists now call sulfides
3. Minerals or compounds in which sulfur is bonded to one or more metals, such as pyrite or galena

Etymology: "Sulfurets" is the plural of "sulfuret", a chemical term for a compound of sulfur with another element, now more often called a sulfide. The word was coined in 1788 by the translator James St. John, who rendered the French "sulfure" into English as part of his version of the 1787 book Méthode de nomenclature chimique by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier and others, the work that reformed chemical naming. St. John drew on the Latin "sulphuretum", meaning relating to sulphur, and the result was a deliberately systematic name. The word is built from "sulfur" and the suffix "-uret", a chemical formation used to mark a combination with a non-oxygen element. Its spelling reflects the English "sulphur" in its earlier form, which is why the two spellings still appear side by side in older texts.

Synonyms: sulfide, sulphide