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Vulcan.

The god of volcanoes and fire, especially the forge, also the patron of all craftsmen, especially blacksmiths. The Roman counterpart of Hephaestus.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈvʌlkən/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. The god of volcanoes and fire, especially the forge, also the patron of all craftsmen, especially blacksmiths. The Roman counterpart of Hephaestus.

    Roman
    The goddess Venus was the wife of Vulcan.
  2. A placename. A town in Vulcan County, southern Alberta, Canada.

  3. A placename. A volcano in Papua New Guinea.

  4. A placename. A place in Romania. A commune of Brașov County, Romania.

  5. A placename. A place in Romania. A city in Hunedoara County, Romania.

  6. A placename. A place in Romania. A village in the commune of Apold, Mureș County, Romania.

  7. A placename. A place in Romania. A village in the commune of Ciuruleasa, Alba County, Romania.

  8. A placename. A place in the United States. A ghost town in Gunnison County, Colorado.

  9. A placename. A place in the United States. An unincorporated community in Norway Township, Dickinson County, Michigan.

  10. A placename. A place in the United States. An unincorporated community in Iron County, Missouri.

  11. A placename. A place in the United States. An inactive volcano in New Mexico, United States.

  12. A placename. A hypothetical planet proposed in the 19th century to exist in an orbit between Mercury and the Sun.

    historical
  13. A placename. Ellipsis of Vulcan County.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
Where this word comes from

From Middle English Vulcan, Vulcanus, Wlcan, from Old English Ulcanus (genitive), from Classical Latin Vulcānus, probably from Etruscan although very unclear, but unknown meaning and further origin (see more in Latin entry). Doublet of bolcane and volcano. Etymology 1, proper noun sense 2.5 (“hypothetical planet”) is a semantic loan from French Vulcan, coined by French physicist, mathematician and astronomer Jacques Babinet in 1846, who proposed this name after the god for a planet close to the Sun. Noun senses etymology 1 1 (“blacksmith; metalworker”), etymology 1 2 (“one who is lame”), and etymology 1 3 (“fire”) are allusions to Vulcan as the god of fire and metalworking and his lameness. Compare Middle French Vulcan (“blacksmith; metalworker”), also attested in early modern French meaning “fire” in apparently isolated use. Etymology 1, noun sense 4 (“volcano”) is from Middle English wlcane, originally after Middle French Vulcan, wlcan, and chiefly after Spanish volcán in subsequent use, ultimately arising from Latin Vulcānus and Italian Vulcano as a name for Mount Etna and one or more of the Aeolian Islands (with active volcanoes on the islands now called Vulcano and Stromboli), probably after Arabic بُرْكَان (burkān, “volcano”), ultimately reflecting the Latin and Italian place names.

noun/ˈvʌlkən/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A blacksmith; a metalworker.

    countable
  2. One who is lame (unable to walk properly), especially with a twisted or otherwise misshapen leg.

    archaic · countable
  3. Fire; a fire.

    countable · literary · obsolete · uncountable
  4. A volcano.

    countable · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English Vulcan, Vulcanus, Wlcan, from Old English Ulcanus (genitive), from Classical Latin Vulcānus, probably from Etruscan although very unclear, but unknown meaning and further origin (see more in Latin entry). Doublet of bolcane and volcano. Etymology 1, proper noun sense 2.5 (“hypothetical planet”) is a semantic loan from French Vulcan, coined by French physicist, mathematician and astronomer Jacques Babinet in 1846, who proposed this name after the god for a planet close to the Sun. Noun senses etymology 1 1 (“blacksmith; metalworker”), etymology 1 2 (“one who is lame”), and etymology 1 3 (“fire”) are allusions to Vulcan as the god of fire and metalworking and his lameness. Compare Middle French Vulcan (“blacksmith; metalworker”), also attested in early modern French meaning “fire” in apparently isolated use. Etymology 1, noun sense 4 (“volcano”) is from Middle English wlcane, originally after Middle French Vulcan, wlcan, and chiefly after Spanish volcán in subsequent use, ultimately arising from Latin Vulcānus and Italian Vulcano as a name for Mount Etna and one or more of the Aeolian Islands (with active volcanoes on the islands now called Vulcano and Stromboli), probably after Arabic بُرْكَان (burkān, “volcano”), ultimately reflecting the Latin and Italian place names.

name/ˈvʌlkən/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. An inhabited planet, the homeworld of the Vulcan species.

  2. A language constructed for the Star Trek franchise, spoken by the fictional Vulcan species.

Where this word comes from

From Vulcan (etymology 1), from the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s. The adjective is by analogy with -an.

noun/ˈvʌlkən/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. An inhabitant of the planet Vulcan; a species that values a personal emphasis on logic and strict personal emotional control.

  2. A person who, like the fictional Vulcans, seems to lack emotion or is overly analytical and boring.

    derogatory · slang
Where this word comes from

From Vulcan (etymology 1), from the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s. The adjective is by analogy with -an.

adj/ˈvʌlkən/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Of, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of the fictional Vulcans.

  2. Lacking emotion or overly analytical and boring.

    derogatory · slang
Where this word comes from

From Vulcan (etymology 1), from the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s. The adjective is by analogy with -an.

noun/ˈvʌlkən/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. The Avro Vulcan, a type of jet-powered British bomber aircraft built by Avro during the Cold War.

Where this word comes from

From Vulcan (etymology 1).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.