Meanings
plural anthracites
- countableuncountableA form of carbonized ancient plants; the hardest and cleanest-burning of all the coals.
Synonyms: hard coal
- countableuncountableA dark grey color.
In the past, when the author was studying, architects only employed a very restricted palette of colours: the white of modernism, black, a “friendly” shade of anthracite and light grey!
2013, Sylvia Leydecker, Designing Interior Architecture, page 32
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA form of carbonized ancient plants; the hardest and cleanest-burning of all the coals.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna hard natural coal that burns slowly and gives intense heat
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekἀνθρακῖτις“a kind of coal”
- Englishanthracite
Via Latin from Ancient Greek ἀνθρακῖτις (anthrakîtis, “a kind of coal”), from ἄνθραξ (ánthrax, “charcoal”). By surface analysis, anthrac- + -ite.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀνθρακῖτις
- ἀνθρακῖτις (anthrakîtis)type of coal
Bulgarian антраци́т
- антраци́т (antracít)type of coal
Catalan antracita
- antracitatype of coal
Chinese Mandarin 無煙煤 /无烟煤
- 無煙煤 /无烟煤 (wúyānméi)type of coal
Danish antracit
- antracittype of coal
Dutch antraciet
- antraciettype of coal
Estonian antratsiit
- antratsiittype of coal
Finnish antrasiitti
- antrasiittitype of coal
French anthracite
- anthracitetype of coal
German Anthrazit
- Anthrazittype of coal
Greek ανθρακίτης
- ανθρακίτης (anthrakítis)type of coal
Irish clochghual, antraicít
- clochghualtype of coal
- antraicíttype of coal
Italian antracite
- antracitetype of coal
Japanese 無煙炭
- 無煙炭 (muentan)type of coal
Korean 무연탄
- 무연탄 (muyeontan)type of coal
Norwegian Bokmål antrasitt
- antrasitttype of coal
Polish antracyt, antracyt
- antracyttype of coal
- antracytdark gray color
- antracytowydark gray color
Portuguese antracite, antracito
- antracitetype of coal
- antracitotype of coal
Romanian antracit
- antracittype of coal
Russian антраци́т
- антраци́т (antracít)type of coal
Spanish antracita
- antracitatype of coal
Swedish antracit
- antracittype of coal
Tagalog antrasita
- antrasitatype of coal
Turkish antrasit, taş kömürü
- antrasittype of coal
- taş kömürütype of coal
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
anthracite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anthracite
“anthracite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anthracite. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anthracite,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anthracite.
Source: anthracite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.