brimstone

Meaning

1. (countable, uncountable) The sulfur of hell; hell, damnation.
2. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Sulfur.
3. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A whore.
4. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Used attributively as an intensifier in exclamations.
5. (countable, uncountable) The butterfly Gonepteryx rhamni of the Pieridae family.
6. (Internet, countable, uncountable) Online content of exceptionally poor quality, lower than coal.

Opposite of

gemerald

Synonyms

sulphur

sulfur

native sulphur

native sulfur

brimstone butterfly

asunder

common brimstone

busted

dead

💀

kaput

Translations

soufre

Schwefel

azufre

enxofre

Zitronenfalter

sulphur

zolfo

θειάφι

zwavel

kükürt

sofre

sulpur

θείο

Gonepteryx rhamni

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbɹɪmstəʊn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: brymston

Inherited from Old English: brynstān

Cognate with Scots: brunstane

Cognate with Icelandic: brennisteinn

Cognate with German: Bernstein

In summary

From Middle English brymston, brimston, bremston, forms of brinston, brenston, bernston, from Old English brynstān (“brimstone”, literally “burn-stone”), equivalent to brian + stone, or burn + stone. Cognate with Scots brunstane (“brimstone”), Icelandic brennisteinn (“sulfur / sulphur, brimstone”), German Bernstein (“amber”). Compare also brimfire. More at burn, stone. Although once a synonym for sulfur, the word is now restricted to Biblical usage.