Vulcan

Meaning

Name

1. (Roman) The god of volcanoes and fire, especially the forge, also the patron of all craftsmen, especially blacksmiths. The Roman counterpart of Hephaestus.
2. A placename.
3. A placename.
4. A placename.
5. A placename.
6. A placename.
7. A placename.
8. A placename.
9. A placename.
10. A placename.
11. A placename.
12. (historical) A placename.
13. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) A placename.

Noun

1. (countable) A blacksmith; a metalworker.
2. (archaic, countable) One who is lame (unable to walk properly), especially with a twisted or otherwise misshapen leg.
3. (countable, literary, obsolete, uncountable) Fire; a fire.
4. (countable, obsolete) A volcano.

Noun

1. An inhabitant of the planet Vulcan; a species that values a personal emphasis on logic and strict personal emotional control.
2. (derogatory, slang) A person who, like the fictional Vulcans, seems to lack emotion or is overly analytical and boring.

Adj

1. Of, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of the fictional Vulcans.
2. (derogatory, slang) Lacking emotion or overly analytical and boring.

Noun

The Avro Vulcan, a type of jet-powered British bomber aircraft built by Avro during the Cold War.

Synonyms

Yellowknife

bluenose

Canada

🇨🇦

Dresden

Hull

Baffin Island

Cadillac

Saint Charles

Saint John’s

Saskatoon

Dildo

Hephaestus

Medicine Hat

Moose Jaw

St. Catharines

Swift Current

St. John’s

Hollywood North

Manipogo

Leamington

Yarmouth

Scarlem

red rocket

Muddy York

Igopogo

Edmonchuk

Parti Quebecois

Translations

Vulcain

Vulcano

Vulcano

Vulcano

Vulkan

🌋

Vulcanus

Vulcanus

Vulcanus

Vulcan

Mulciber

Vulcan

Vulcà

Vulcan

Βούλκαν

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈvʌlkən/

Etymology

From Middle English Vulcan, Vulcanus, Wlcan, from Old English Ulcanus (genitive), from Classical Latin Vulcānus, probably from Etruscan although very unclear, but unknown meaning and further origin (see more in Latin entry). Doublet of bolcane and volcano.
Proper noun sense 2.5 (“hypothetical planet”) is a semantic loan from French Vulcan, coined by French physicist, mathematician and astronomer Jacques Babinet in 1846, who proposed this name after the god for a planet close to the Sun.
Noun senses 1 (“blacksmith; metalworker”), 2 (“one who is lame”), and 3 (“fire”) are allusions to Vulcan as the god of fire and metalworking and his lameness. Compare Middle French Vulcan (“blacksmith; metalworker”), also attested in early modern French meaning “fire” in apparently isolated use.
Noun sense 4 (“volcano”) is from Middle English wlcane, originally after Middle French Vulcan, wlcan, and chiefly after Spanish volcán in subsequent use, ultimately arising from Latin Vulcānus and Italian Vulcano as a name for Mount Etna and one or more of the Aeolian Islands (with active volcanoes on the islands now called Vulcano and Stromboli), probably after Arabic بُرْكَان (burkān, “volcano”), ultimately reflecting the Latin and Italian place names.