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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

asphalt.

A sticky, black to brown and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid, composed almost entirely of bitumen with small mineral particles, that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈæʃfɑlt/Canada/ˈæsfɑlt/Canada/ˈæʃfɔlt/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈæsfɔlt/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. A sticky, black to brown and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid, composed almost entirely of bitumen with small mineral particles, that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits.

    countable · uncountable
    The mining of asphalt was big business in this area in the early twentieth century.
  2. Ellipsis of asphalt concrete, a hard ground covering used for roads and walkways.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable
    Please hose off the asphalt near the top of the driveway if the trucks get lots of mud on it.
Where this word comes from

From Late Latin asphaltum, from Ancient Greek ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos, “asphalt, bitumen”). Displaced native Old English eorþtyrewa (literally, "earth-tar").

verb/ˈæʃfɑlt/Canada/ˈæsfɑlt/Canada/ˈæʃfɔlt/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈæsfɔlt/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To pave with asphalt.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Late Latin asphaltum, from Ancient Greek ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos, “asphalt, bitumen”). Displaced native Old English eorþtyrewa (literally, "earth-tar").

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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.