Phrase guide

philosopher's wool

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /fɪˌlɒsəfəz ˈwʊl/
  • General-American: /fəˌlɑs(ə)fəɹz ˈwʊl/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ʊl

1

noun

Meaning 1

Zinc oxide (chemical formula ZnO) as a white flocculent powder.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, uncountable

Topics: alchemy, pseudoscience

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: philosophical wool

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

oxide of zinc; a white powder used as a pigment or in cosmetics or glass or inks and in zinc ointment

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: zinc oxide, flowers of zinc, philosophers' wool

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: oxide

History

Etymology

From philosopher (“(obsolete) an alchemist”) + -’s + wool.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: sinkkivalkoinen — zinc oxide as a white flocculent powder
  • Macedonian: цинква́јс (cinkvájs) — zinc oxide as a white flocculent powder