phosphorescent

1. 1.

   emitting light without appreciable heat as by slow oxidation of phosphorous

   “the phosphorescent glow of decaying wood”

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Questions about phosphorescent

What does phosphorescent mean?

phosphorescent means "emitting light without appreciable heat as by slow oxidation of phosphorous".

How many syllables are in phosphorescent?

phosphorescent has 4 syllables and divides as pho-spho-re-scent under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

Is phosphorescent a common word?

phosphorescent is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.