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.

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Vulcan ¹ British  

/ vʌlˈkeɪnɪən, ˈvʌlkən /

noun

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

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Vulcan ² British  

/ ˈvʌlkən, vʌlˈkeɪnɪən /

noun

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

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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.

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Other Word Forms

• Vulcanian adjective

Etymology

Origin of Vulcan

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

Example Sentences

Number two was Vulcan Materials, which operates rock quarries.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

Among building materials companies, Builders FirstSource jumped 5.7%, and concrete supplier Vulcan Materials rose 2.7%.

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

In November, Vulcan Elements received a $620 million Defense Department loan, alongside $50 million from the Commerce Department, in a deal to build and operate a U.S. magnet facility.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 26, 2026

The government last year reached a $1.4bn deal with Vulcan Elements, a rare earth magnet start-up, to bolster the domestic rare earths supply chain.

From BBC • Jan. 26, 2026

Minerva was the weaver among the Olympians as Vulcan was the smith.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton