naphthamein

N1A1P3H4T1H4A1M3E1I1N1

noun

A product formed by the oxidation of naphthalamine (also called naphthylamine), which was observed to produce blue precipitates that later became purple but that was considered useless as a commercial dyeing agent due to its poor color quality.

OriginFrench naphtaméine →
Scrabble 21
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounnaphthamein (uncountable)
  1. uncountableA product formed by the oxidation of naphthalamine (also called naphthylamine), which was observed to produce blue precipitates that later became purple but that was considered useless as a commercial dyeing agent due to its poor color quality.

    Piria* observed that naphthalamine and its salts produce blue precipitates, afterwards becoming purple, when brought in contact with perchloride of iron, terchloridc of gold, nitrate of silver, and other oxidizing agents. This product of oxidation he terms naphthamein.

    1862, W. H. Perkin, Esq., “On colouring matters derived from coal tar”, in Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society of London, page 248

Origin

  1. Frenchnaphtaméine
  2. Englishnaphthamein

From French naphtaméine. By surface analysis, naphth(a) + -am + -ein.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

naphthamein. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naphthamein

MLA

“naphthamein.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naphthamein. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “naphthamein,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naphthamein.

Source: naphthamein on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.