What does carburetting mean?
Carburetting is the act of combining or charging a substance with carbon, most famously applied in the gas industry to the practice of enriching lean water-gas with vapours of volatile hydrocarbons such as benzol or petroleum spirit. Water-gas, made by passing steam over hot coke, burns with a weak, nearly invisible flame; by carburetting it, engineers raised its heating and illuminating value so it could serve homes and streets. The term derives from 'carburet', an older chemical name for a compound of carbon with another element, and shares ancestry with the everyday word 'carburettor' (the device that mixes fuel vapour with air in an engine). Today 'carburetting' survives mainly in historical and technical texts on gas manufacture and metallurgy, where it retains a precise, specialised meaning rather than general currency.
verb (present participle and gerund)The present participle of carburet: to combine, charge, or mix a substance with carbon, especially to enrich a gas or fuel by passing it through volatile hydrocarbons.
- To charge or enrich a gas (such as water-gas) with volatile hydrocarbons to increase its illuminating or heating value.
- To combine or impregnate any substance with carbon.
"The engineer adjusted the gasworks apparatus, carburetting the lean water-gas with benzol vapour to raise its heating value."
"By carburetting the lean gas with petroleum vapours, the plant produced a fuel suitable for domestic lighting."
"The chemist described a method of carburetting iron filings with carbon at high temperature."
Before modern petrol engines made the word familiar, gas companies were literally 'carburetting' coal gas with benzol vapour so lamps would burn brighter.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of carburetting
'Carburetting' comes from 'carburet', a term coined in late 18th-century French chemistry (as 'carbure') during the reform of chemical nomenclature associated with Lavoisier and his colleagues, denoting a compound of carbon with another element. English adopted 'carburet', adding the verbal suffix '-ate' and then '-ing'. The same root gives 'carbide', 'carbonic', and the familiar automotive 'carburettor', which literally means a device that 'carburets' — charges air with hydrocarbon vapour.
Related word forms
How carburetting is actually used
A technical, largely historical term from 18th–19th-century chemistry and the gas-manufacturing industry; rarely encountered outside engineering literature. British spelling typically doubles the t ('carburetting'), while American usage often uses a single t ('carbureting'). It appears chiefly as a present participle or gerund rather than as an independent word.
Easily confused with carburetting
'Carburetting' means combining a substance with carbon or enriching gas with hydrocarbon vapour, while the similar-sounding 'carburating'/'carburising' specifically refers to hardening steel by diffusing carbon into its surface.