Vulcan

American  

[vuhl-kuhn] / ˈvʌl kən /

noun

1. the ancient Roman god of fire and metalworking, identified with the Greek Hephaestus.

2. Military. a six-barrel, 20 mm U.S. Army antiaircraft gun system mounted on an armored personnel carrier and first deployed in 1968.

3. Astronomy. a hypothetical planet nearest the sun whose existence was erroneously postulated to account for perturbations in Mercury's orbit.

---

Vulcan ¹ British  

/ ˈvʌlkən /

noun

1. a hypothetical planet once thought to lie within the orbit of Mercury

---

Vulcan ² British  

/ ˈvʌlkən /

noun

1. Greek counterpart: Hephaestus. the Roman god of fire and metalworking

---

Vulcan Cultural  

1. The Roman and Greek god of fire and metalworking; the blacksmith of the gods. He suffered bodily deformities and lameness. According to some stories, he was married to Venus, the goddess of love and beauty; in other stories, he was married to one of the three Graces. Vulcan was a son of Jupiter.

---

Other Word Forms

• Vulcanian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Vulcan

First recorded in 1505–15, Vulcan is from the Latin word Vulcānus

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Vulcan

Vulcan and Martin Marietta, two of the largest companies in the sector, reported margins of around 30% in the same period.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

One coin features the Vulcan salute, a hand gesture that was popularised by the original 1960s television series, alongside the words "Live long and prosper".

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

The Pentagon has supported Vulcan and ReElement construction projects with hundreds of millions of dollars in investments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

The Vulcan system is calibrated using official traffic records and energy consumption data, providing an independent benchmark for measuring vehicle emissions.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2026

I wanted to ask him if the ruins reminded him of Vulcan, the way they reminded me.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram