polystyrene

See also: polystyrène

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁-der.

Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús

Ancient Greek πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)lbor.

English poly-

Semiticder.?

Ancient Greek στύραξ (stúrax)der.

Latin styrax

French -ènebor.

English -ene

English styrene

English polystyrene

From poly- + styrene.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɒliˈstaɪriːn/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Noun

polystyrene (plural polystyrenes)

1. (organic chemistry) A vinylic polymer of styrene, CH₂CHphenyl.
   • 1996 February 4, Julia Campbell, “Ray McIntire, 77, Dow Engineer And the Inventor Of Styrofoam”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 September 2024:

     It was 30 times lighter and more flexible than the polystyrene that had previously been used.

   • 2014, “Tom & Gerri” (1:14 from the start), in Inside No. 9, season 1, episode 3, spoken by Tom (Reece Shearsmith):

     Gerri (Gemma Arterton): Well, he might not be begging. He might be waiting for somebody. / Tom: Of course he's begging. He's got a polystyrene cup in front of him.

2. (organic chemistry) An alkane chain of benzene molecules, RCH₂CHphenylR.

Synonyms

• thermocol (India)

Derived terms

• expanded polystyrene (EPS)
• polystyrene worm
• styrofoam

Translations

polymer

• Catalan: poliestirè m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聚苯乙烯 (zh) (jùběnyǐxī)

• Czech: polystyren m
• French: polystyrène (fr) m
• Greek: πολυστερίνη (el) f (polysteríni)
• Hungarian: polisztirol (hu)
• Icelandic: pólýstýren n
• Italian: polistirene m
• Japanese: ポリスチレン (ja)
• Malay:

  Jawi: ڤوليستيرينا (ms)

  Rumi: polistirena (ms)

• Portuguese: poliestireno (pt) m
• Russian: полистиро́л (ru) m (polistiról)
• Spanish: poliestireno m
• Swedish: polystyren (sv)
• Vietnamese: xốp (vi)
• Yiddish: פּאָליסטירען m (polistiren)