Meanings
philosopher's stone1
plural philosopher's stones · alternative philosophers stone · alternative Philosopher's Stone · alternative philosophers' stone · alternative stone of the philosophers
- alchemyA 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.
Men talke much […] of the Philoſophers ſtone, that it turneth copper into gold; […]
1611, [Miles Smith], “The Translators to the Reader”, in The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC3 more examples
[…] I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life.
1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 541997, Christopher McIntosh, The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order, Weiser Books, 3rd Revised Edition, 1998, Paperback, page 51, The Rosicrucianism of the Andreae era was only partly concerned with alchemy, but later revivals of the Rosicrucian idea were to lay great stress on their claims to possess the secrets of transmutation and the knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone or the Elixir of Life.
The Cleopatra of this early alchemical dialogue is not the famous Cleopatra VII (69-30 BC), last queen of the Ptolemy dynasty and lover of Mark Antony. Along with Mary Prophetess and Zosimos's Theosebia, this Cleopatra occupies a high place in alchemical lore as one of very few ancient female adepts who possessed the secret of the philosopher's stone.
2003, Stanton J. Linden, The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton, Cambridge University Press, page 44Synonyms: philosopher's egg, sorcerer's stone
Philosopher's Stone2
plural Philosopher's Stones
- Alternative letter-case form of philosopher's stone.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA 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.
More synonyms by meaning
nounhypothetical substance that the alchemists believed to be capable of changing base metals into gold
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinlapis philosophōrum
- Middle Englishphilosophres ston
- Englishphilosopher's stone
A misconstruction of philosophers' stone, from Middle English philosophres ston, a calque of Latin lapis philosophōrum.
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic حَجَر اَلْفَلَاسِفَة
- حَجَر اَلْفَلَاسِفَة (ḥajar al-falāsifa)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Bulgarian филосо́фският ка́мък
- филосо́фският ка́мък (filosófskijat kámăk)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Catalan pedra filosofal
- pedra filosofalsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Chinese Mandarin 點金石 /点金石, 魔法石
- 點金石 /点金石 (diǎn jīn shí)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- 魔法石 (mófǎ shí)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- 賢者之石 /贤者之石 (xiánzhězhīshí)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- 哲人石 (zhérén shí)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Czech kámen mudrců
- kámen mudrcůsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Danish vises sten
- vises stensupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Dutch steen der wijzen
- steen der wijzensupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Esperanto ŝtono de la saĝuloj
- ŝtono de la saĝulojsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Estonian tarkade kivi
- tarkade kivisupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Finnish viisasten kivi
- viisasten kivisupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
French pierre philosophale
- pierre philosophalesupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
German Stein der Weisen
- Stein der Weisensupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Greek φιλοσοφική λίθος
- φιλοσοφική λίθος (filosofikí líthos)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Hebrew אֶבֶן הַחֲכָמִים
- אֶבֶן הַחֲכָמִים (éven ha-khakhamím)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Hindi पारस पत्थर, स्पर्शोपल
- पारस पत्थर (pāras patthar)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- स्पर्शोपल (sparśopal)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- स्पर्शमणि (sparśamṇi)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- परश (paraś)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- परसपखान (parsapkhān)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- रसेंद्र (rasendra)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- परस (paras)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- पाहन (pāhan)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- पारस (pāras)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Hungarian bölcsek köve
- bölcsek kövesupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Icelandic viskusteinn
- viskusteinnsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Indonesian batu bertuah
- batu bertuahsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Irish órchloch
- órchlochsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Italian pietra filosofale, crisopea
- pietra filosofalesupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- crisopeasupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Japanese 賢者の石
- 賢者の石 (kenja no ishí)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Korean 마법사의 돌
- 마법사의 돌 (mabeopsa-ui dol)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Latin lapis philosophorum
- lapis philosophorumsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Latvian filozofu akmens
- filozofu akmenssupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Lithuanian išminties akmuo
- išminties akmuosupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Malay batu hikmat
- batu hikmatsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Norwegian de vises stein
- de vises steinsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Persian سنگ جادو, سنگ فلاسفه
- سنگ جادو (sang-e jâdu)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- سنگ فلاسفه (sang-e falâsefe)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Polish kamień filozoficzny, tynktura
- kamień filozoficznysupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- tynkturasupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Portuguese pedra filosofal
- pedra filosofalsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Romanian piatră filozofală
- piatră filozofalăsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Russian филосо́фский ка́мень
- филосо́фский ка́мень (filosófskij kámenʹ)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Slovak kameň mudrcov
- kameň mudrcovsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Spanish piedra filosofal
- piedra filosofalsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Swedish de vises sten
- de vises stensupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Tagalog bato ng pilosopo
- bato ng pilosoposupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Thai ศิลาอาถรรพ์, ศิลานักปราชญ์
- ศิลาอาถรรพ์ (sìlaa àatan)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- ศิลานักปราชญ์supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Turkish felsefe taşı
- felsefe taşısupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Ukrainian філосо́фський ка́мінь
- філосо́фський ка́мінь (filosófsʹkyj káminʹ)supposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Vietnamese hòn đá phù thủy, đá tạo vàng
- hòn đá phù thủysupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
- đá tạo vàngsupposed substance able to turn base metals into gold or silver
Cite this entry
philosopher's stone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/philosopher's%20stone
“philosopher's stone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/philosopher's%20stone. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “philosopher's stone,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/philosopher's%20stone.
Source: philosopher's stone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.