Meanings
plural kieselguhrs
- countableuncountableDiatomaceous earth, a kind of soft rock containing the remains of diatoms; it absorbs nitroglycerine and is used to manufacture dynamite.
It was the only name anybody seemed to know him by, “Kieselguhr” being a kind of fine clay, used to soak up nitroglycerine and stabilize it into dynamite.
2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Iceland Spar”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 171
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna light soil consisting of siliceous diatom remains and often used as a filtering material
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- GermanKieselguhr
- Englishkieselguhr
Borrowed from German Kieselguhr, older spelling of Kieselgur, from Kiesel (“pebble, gravel”) + Gur (“guhr”).
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
kieselguhr. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kieselguhr
“kieselguhr.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kieselguhr. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kieselguhr,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kieselguhr.
Source: kieselguhr on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.