sulfur

[suhl-fer]

noun

1. Chemistry.,  Also a nonmetallic element that exists in several forms, the ordinary one being a yellow rhombic crystalline solid, and that burns with a blue flame and a suffocating odor: used especially in making gunpowder and matches, in medicine, in vulcanizing rubber, etc. S; 32.064; 16; 2.07 at 20° C.

2. sulphur.

sulfur

/ ˈsʌlfə /

noun

1. the US preferred spelling of sulphur

sulfur

1. A pale-yellow, brittle nonmetallic element that occurs widely in nature, especially in volcanic deposits, minerals, natural gas, and petroleum. It is used to make gunpowder and fertilizer, to vulcanize rubber, and to produce sulfuric acid. Atomic number 16; atomic weight 32.066; melting point (rhombic) 112.8°C; (monoclinic) 119.0°C; boiling point 444.6°C; specific gravity (rhombic) 2.07; (monoclinic) 1.957; valence 2, 4, 6.

2. See Periodic Table

Word History and Origins

Origin of sulfur¹

1300–50; Middle English sulphur < Latin sulpur, sulphur, sulfur brimstone, sulfur

Example Sentences

I’ve stood over sheet pans on Sunday afternoons, roasting broccoli until the kitchen smelled faintly of sulfur, portioning out tidy mounds of chicken and rice into identical little plastic containers.

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Greenwood’s graphic details are vivid and disturbing, from screaming that is “a high unnatural wail that could shrivel souls like salted slugs” to air “powdered with concrete and sulfur.”

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From the surface layer of the Earth’s oceans, DMS, which is a volatile chemical, escapes into the air, joining the atmospheric cycling of sulfur.

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They are formed when bacteria break down amino acids containing sulfur.

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Dimethyl sulfide is the largest natural source of atmospheric sulfur on Earth, which means that it gets into the atmosphere and cycles around.

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