CARBON

noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: French ~e, from Latin ~-, carbo ember, charcoal Date: 1789 a nonmetallic chiefly tetravalent element found native (as in diamond and graphite) or as a constituent of coal, petroleum, and asphalt, of limestone and other ~ates, and of organic compounds or obtained artificially in varying degrees of purity especially as ~ black, lampblack, activated ~, charcoal, and coke, a ~ rod used in an arc lamp, 3. a sheet of ~ paper, ~ copy