- Today's Word
Amalgamate
uh-MAL-guh-mayt
Definition
(verb) To combine or unite to form one organization or substance; to merge distinct elements into a single unified whole.
Example
The two firms amalgamated after eighteen months of negotiation — emerging as something that satisfied no one completely and was better than either alternative.
Word Origin
Amalgamate derives from amalgam, itself from the Medieval Latin amalgama — possibly from the Arabic al-malgham, meaning “an emollient poultice,” or from the Greek malagma, meaning “softening.” An amalgam was originally a mixture of mercury with another metal, used extensively in early metallurgy and dentistry. The verb amalgamate entered English in the 17th century, first describing the literal blending of metals before expanding into its broader sense of any union of distinct elements into a new whole.
Fun Fact
Dental amalgam — the silver-colored filling material used in teeth for over 150 years — is a literal amalgamation of mercury, silver, tin, and copper that hardens into a stable alloy. Despite containing mercury, dental amalgam has been used safely in hundreds of millions of fillings because the mercury binds chemically to the other metals and cannot escape as vapor in normal conditions. The debate over its safety has nonetheless persisted for decades, making dental amalgam one of the most studied materials in medical history — and a remarkable example of how the properties of a combined substance can be entirely different from the properties of its individual components, which is precisely what amalgamation means.