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philosopher's stone

Today it means: A supposed substance able to turn base metals, such as lead or mercury, into gold or silver, also sometimes claimed to cure any illness (as panacea) or confer immortality (as elixir of life), among other functions. Full definition →

Middle English philosophres ston ← Latin lapis philosophōrum

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The story

Latin · derived fromlapis philosophōrum
Middle English · derived fromphilosophres ston
English todayphilosopher's stone

A misconstruction of philosophers' stone, from Middle English philosophres ston, a calque of Latin lapis philosophōrum.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.