potash
Pronunciation: /ˈpɒt.æʃ/
The English word “potash” has 4 meanings listed here.
noun
- The water-soluble part of wood ash, used for making soap and glass and as a fertilizer (chemically speaking, an impure form of potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃) mixed with other potassium salts).
- Potassium. Chiefly used in the names of compounds of the form "... of potash".
- A class of potassium minerals, of similar applicability to potassium carbonate, such as being a fertilizer. (ie. potassium chloride, potassium hydroxide)
verb
Etymology
From pot + ash, because the substance was originally obtained by leaching ash in water and then boiling down the resulting solution in a pot. Compare Dutch potas, German Pottasche.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.