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char·coal

(chärkōl′)

1. A black, porous, carbonaceous material, 85 to 98 percent carbon, produced by the destructive distillation of wood and used as a fuel, filter, and adsorbent.

a. A drawing pencil or crayon made from this material.

b. A drawing executed with such a pencil or crayon.

3. A dark grayish brown to black or dark purplish gray.

tr.v. char·coaled, char·coal·ing, char·coals

1. To draw, write, or blacken with a black, carbonaceous material.

2. To charbroil.

[Middle English charcol : char (perhaps from Old French charbon, from Latin carbō; see CARBON) + col, charcoal, coal; see COAL.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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