colophony means Rosin; the residue left after the distillation of oil of turpentine from liquid resin, used in pharmaceutical preparations, soldering fluxes, and by violinists. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
Why this word is great
COLOPHONY — [Noun] A translucent, brittle solid, specifically the rosin left after distilling turpentine from pine resin. From Latin Colophōnia (rēsina), meaning '(resin) of Colophon,' the Ionic city in Asia Minor known for producing this hardened resin. Unlike 'resin,' the broad, viscous exudate of trees, or the commonplace, utilitarian 'rosin,' colophony carries the weight of antiquity and craft. It is the precise golden tear that grants a bow its voice, the acrid scent hovering over a tinker's bench, the brittle shard in an apothecary's jar—a geographical fossil in word and substance, the stubborn, useful ghost of a lost city, fixed in its brittle service.
noun
- Rosin; the residue left after the distillation of oil of turpentine from liquid resin, used in pharmaceutical preparations, soldering fluxes, and by violinists.“This resin or turpentine is a very interesting and peculiar substance, or rather series of substances. It is valuable because tar, pitch, rosin, and colophony are obtained by distilling it.”