white lead
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white lead
Where it comes from
In the tin sense, a calque of Latin plumbum album (literally “white lead”), a term already in use before our era, for tin and lead were not yet properly distinguished prior to modern times. Compare Latin plumbum candidum (literally “shining-white lead”) and Arabic رَصَاص أَبْيَض (raṣāṣ ʔabyaḍ, “white lead”), both of which were also used to mean “tin” and to distinguish it from lead proper, called “black lead” (plumbum nigrum; رَصَاص أَسْوَد (raṣāṣ ʔaswad)) in those ancient tongues.
noun whitelead
- Tin, golden marcasite. It is not amiſs here to give the differences betwixt white Lead, or Tin, Biſmuth, Tin-glaſs, or aſh-coloured Lead, and this common Lead, which they call black Lead;
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A basic lead carbonate, particularly (historical) as once widely used for white paint, whitening cosmetics, and early medicine.
The beginning of a new episode of work for Bradly was an agitated niggling over six-by-four squares of cardboard coated with size and white lead, prepared by himself to save an experimental waste of canvas.
Similar: lead white, flake white, silver white, slate white, ceruse, Venetian ceruse, Venetian white, white poison
Translations
Every language
noun lead carbonate
| Español | albayalde |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 연백 yeonbaek |
| Português | alvaiade |
| Français | céruse, blanc de plomb, blanc de Saturne |
| Deutsch | Bleiweiß |
| Italiano | bianchetto, biacca |
| Ελληνικά | στουπέτσι stoupétsi |
| Română | ceruză, alb de plumb |
| Русский | свинцо́вые бели́ла svincóvyje belíla |
| العربية | سِبِيدَاج sibīdāj, بَارُوق bārūq, بَيَاض bayāḍ |
Talk about this word "white lead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/white%20lead. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. white lead. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/white%20lead "white lead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/white%20lead.Cite this
@misc{white_lead_2026,
title = {white lead},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/white%20lead},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
