Link Centre Dictionary

mercurial

mer·cu·rial

UK/məːˈkjʊə.ɹɪ.əl/ US/mɝˈkjʊ.ɹi.əl/ uncommon obsolete

adjective

1.

liable to sudden unpredictable change

  • “erratic behavior”
  • “fickle weather”
  • “mercurial twists of temperament”
  • “a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

relating to or under the (astrological) influence of the planet Mercury

  • “the Mercurial canals”
3.

relating to or having characteristics (eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, thievishness) attributed to the god Mercury

  • “more than Mercurial thievishness”
4.

relating to or containing or caused by mercury

  • “mercurial preparations”
  • “mercurial sore mouth”

Origin

Noun sense 1 (“(obsolete) plant known as mercury”) is from Middle English mercurial (“a plant, probably the goosefoot (Chenopodium); (possibly) dog’s mercury (Mercurialis perennis)”), from Anglo-Norman mercurial, Old French mercurial, or directly from their etymon Latin mercuriālis (“a plant, probably annual mercury (Mercurialis annua)”), short for herba mercuriālis (“(probably) annual mercury”, literally “herb or plant of the god Mercury”). Mercuriālis (“pertaining to the Roman god Mercury”, adjective) is derived from Mercurius (“the Roman god Mercury”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Later adjective and noun uses may have been directly derived from Latin mercuriālis (adjective), whence Middle English mercurial (“under the astrological influence of the planet Mercury”).

Phrases

  • mercurial eczema
  • mercurial finger
  • mercurial glossitis
  • mercurial ointment
  • mercurial phosphorus
  • mercurial pneumatic trough
  • mercurial rash
  • mercurial trough

Related words

Word family

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.