bitumen

See also: Bitumen

English

Natural bitumen from the Dead Sea

Etymology

From Middle English bithumen, bitumen, from Latin bitūmen. The verb sense was derived from the noun. Doublet of bitume.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪt.jʊ.mɪn/, /ˈbɪt͡ʃ.ʊ.mɪn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /bɪtˈu.mən/, /bɪtˈju.mən/, /baɪtˈu.mən/

• Audio (UK); /ˈbɪt.jʊ.mɪn/:

  (file)

• Audio (General American); /bɪtˈjumən/:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtjʊmɪn, -uːmən
• Hyphenation: bi‧tu‧men

Noun

bitumen (countable and uncountable, plural bitumina or bitumens)

2. An immensely viscous constituent of petroleum, primarily used in road construction

   Synonyms: asphalt, (obsolete) bitume, (all, obsolete) Jew's line, Jew's pitch, Jew's slime, slime

   • 2014 August 24, Jeff Howell, “Home improvements: gravel paths and cutting heating bills [print version: Cold comfort in technology, 23 August 2014, p. P5]”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[2], London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     You need to excavate and remove the topsoil, line the subsoil with a geotextile, then lay and compact hardcore. Follow this with a layer of compacted "hoggin" – compacted clay, gravel and sand. This is then sprayed with hot bitumen, and has a layer of pea shingle rolled into it.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

3. (by extension) Any one of the natural hydrocarbons.
4. (Australia, colloquial) A road sealed with asphalt concrete, as opposed to a dirt road.
5. (Canada) Deposit of extremely heavy crude oil.

Derived terms

• bitumastic
• bitumenised
• bitumen of Judea
• bituminiferous
• bituminoid
• bituminous
• bitumoid
• crude bitumen
• dilbit
• modified bitumen
• pyrobitumen
• refined bitumen

Translations

form of petroleum

• Albanian: bitum (sq)
• Bengali: শিলাজতু (bn) (śilajôtu)
• Bulgarian: битум m (bitum)
• Catalan: betum m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瀝青 / 沥青 (zh) (lìqīng)

• Dutch: aardpek (nl) m or n, bitumen (nl) n
• Finnish: bitumi (fi)
• French: bitume (fr) m
• German: Bitumen (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἄσφαλτος f (ásphaltos)

• Hebrew: חמר (he) (kheimahr)
• Italian: bitume (it), asfalto (it) m
• Japanese: 歴青 (ja) (rekisei), 瀝青 (ja) (rekisei)
• Korean: 역청(瀝靑) (yeokcheong)
• Latin: bitūmen n
• Polish: bitum (pl) m, bitumin (pl) m, bitumen (pl) m
• Portuguese: betume (pt)
• Romanian: bitum (ro)
• Russian: би́тум (ru) m (bítum)
• Scottish Gaelic: bìth f, teàrr f
• Spanish: brea (es), bitumen (es) m
• Swedish: bitumen (sv) n
• Thai: ยางมะตอย (th) (yaang-má-dtɔi)
• Turkish: bitüm (tr), yer sakızı (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: بیتوم (bitüm)

• Yiddish: ביטומען (bitumen)

Verb

bitumen (third-person singular simple present bitumens, present participle bitumening, simple past and past participle bitumened)

1. To cover or fill with bitumen.

   Synonym: bituminize

   • 1926, Rudyard Kipling, “The Prophet and the Country”, in Debits and Credits‎^[3], →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 October 2026, page 155:

     another star reflected itself in the glassy black of the bitumened road

   • 1937, Lady Ethel Stefana Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Brill Archive, →LCCN, page 122:

     The Litlata community have now built a mandi set in a pleasant garden, and to ensure the cleanliness of their yardna have bricked and bitumened the pool into which the water flows

   • 1984, Dennis Hancock, Wheels of Progress: History of the Road Transport Industry in Western Australia, 1829-1983, Access Press, →ISBN, page 145:

     Work is already under way to complete the bitumening of Western Australia's last unsurfaced stretch of Highway One, between Fitzroy Crossing and Hall's Creek.

   • 2013, Janice Cooper, Crossing the Divide: A History of Alpha and Jericho Districts, Boolarong Press, →ISBN, page 176:

     The development of water reticulation occurred in parallel with street work — forming, kerbing, channelling and bitumening.

See also

• asphalt

Further reading

• “bitumen”, in Merriam-Webster Online, Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1996–present.
• “bitumen”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bitume, from Latin bitūmen, which later influenced the spelling. Doublet of beton.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbiˈty.mə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bi‧tu‧men

Noun

bitumen n (plural bitumina, no diminutive)

1. bitumen

   Synonyms: aardhars, aardpek, bergteer, jodenlijm

Related terms

• beton

Further reading

• “bitumen” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch bitumen, from Middle Dutch bitume, from Latin bitūmen.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /biˈtumɛn/ [biˈt̪u.mɛn]
• Rhymes: -umɛn
• Syllabification: bi‧tu‧men

Noun

bitumèn (plural bitumen-bitumen)

1. bitumen

Further reading

• “bitumen”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʷet-

Proto-Indo-European *-us

Proto-Indo-European *gʷétuder.

Latin *bitū

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Italic *-mn̥

Latin -men

Latin bitumen

From *bitū +‎ -men, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷétu (“resin, gum”), borrowed from an Osco-Umbrian language, where the initial sound development is regular. Alternatively, it could be a Celtic borrowing (compare Latin betulla, which is a Celtic borrowing from the same ultimate origin), where the shift of *gʷ > *b is regular, as well. The raising of the first vowel might come from the Osco-Umbrian variety, or have been developed in Latin, as occasionally happens after labials; compare firmus, vitulus. Cognate with Scottish Gaelic bìth (“resin, gum”), English cud, Sanskrit जतु (jatu, “lac, gum”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [bɪˈtuː.mɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [biˈtuː.men]

Noun

bitūmen n (genitive bitūminis); third declension

1. mineral pitch, bitumen

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	bitūmen	bitūmina
genitive	bitūminis	bitūminum
dative	bitūminī	bitūminibus
accusative	bitūmen	bitūmina
ablative	bitūmine	bitūminibus
vocative	bitūmen	bitūmina

Related terms

• bitūmineus
• bitūminō
• bitūminōsus

Descendants

Reflexes of an assumed variant *bittūmen:

• Old Catalan: betum, bitum
  • Catalan: betum
    • →? Portuguese: betume
    • → Spanish: betún
      • → Tagalog: biton
  • → Old Spanish: betume
• Galician: betume
• Franco-Provençal: bèton, blèton, bleton
• Occitan: betum
• Old French: betun
  • French: béton (see there for further descendants)

Borrowings:

• → German: Bitumen
• → Hebrew: בִּיטוּמֵן
• → Italian: bitume
• → Middle English: bethyn; bithumen, bitumen
  • English: bitumen
• → Middle French: bitume
  • French: bitume
  • → English: bitume
• → Russian: би́тум m (bítum)
• → Yiddish: ביטומען (bitumen)

Further reading

• Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1984), “betún”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎^[4] (in Spanish), volume I (A–Ca), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 578
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “bitūmen”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 1: A–B, page 386
• “bitumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “bitumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “bitumen”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “bitumen”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʷet-

Proto-Indo-European *-us

Proto-Indo-European *gʷétuder.

Latin *bitū

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Italic *-mn̥

Latin -men

Latin bitūmenlbor.

Polish bitumen

Learned borrowing from Latin bitūmen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biˈtu.mɛn/
• Rhymes: -umɛn
• Syllabification: bi‧tu‧men

Noun

bitumen m inan

1. bitumen, blacktop

   Synonyms: bitum, bitumin

Declension

Declension of bitumen

	singular	plural
nominative	bitumen	bitumeny
genitive	bitumenu	bitumenów
dative	bitumenowi	bitumenom
accusative	bitumen	bitumeny
instrumental	bitumenem	bitumenami
locative	bitumenie	bitumenach
vocative	bitumenie	bitumeny

Related terms

adjectives

• bitumiczny
• bitumowy

nouns

• bitum
• bitumiczność
• bitumin
• bitumizacja

verb

• bitumować impf

Further reading

• “bitumen”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[5] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “bitumen”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[6] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʷet-

Proto-Indo-European *-us

Proto-Indo-European *gʷétuder.

Latin *bitū

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Italic *-mn̥

Latin -men

Latin bitūmenbor.

German Bitumenbor.

Romanian bitumen

Borrowed from German Bitumen, borrowed from Latin bitūmen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biˈtu.men/, /bi.tuˈmen/

Noun

bitumen n (uncountable)

1. bitumen

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	bitumen	bitumenul
genitive-dative	bitumen	bitumenului
vocative	bitumenule

Further reading

• “bitumen”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʷet-

Proto-Indo-European *-us

Proto-Indo-European *gʷétuder.

Latin *bitū

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Italic *-mn̥

Latin -men

Latin bitūmenlbor.

Spanish bitumen

Learned borrowing from Latin bitūmen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biˈtumen/ [biˈt̪u.mẽn]
• Rhymes: -umen
• Syllabification: bi‧tu‧men

Noun

bitumen m (plural bitúmenes)

1. bitumen

   Synonym: betún

Further reading

• “bitumen”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026

Swedish

Noun

bitumen n

1. bitumen

Declension

Declension of bitumen

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	bitumen	bitumens
	definite	bitumen, bitumenet, bituminet	bitumens, bitumenets, bituminets
plural	indefinite	bitumen	bitumens
	definite	bitumenen	bitumenens

See also

• asfalt
• petroleum

References

• “bitumen”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “bitumen”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “bitumen”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)