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phlegmatic
adjective
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Phlegm and the Four Temperaments
According to the ancient Greeks, human personalities were controlled by four bodily fluids or semifluids called humors: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. Each humor was associated with one of the four basic elements: air, earth, fire, and water. Phlegm was paired with water—the cold, moist element—and it was believed to impart the cool, calm, unemotional personality we now call the "phlegmatic type." That's a bit odd, given that the term derives from the Greek phlegma, which literally means "flame," perhaps a reflection of the inflammation that colds and flus often bring.
Synonyms
impassive, stoic, phlegmatic, apathetic, stolid mean unresponsive to something that might normally excite interest or emotion.
impassive stresses the absence of any external sign of emotion in action or facial expression.
stoic implies an apparent indifference to pleasure or especially to pain often as a matter of principle or self-discipline.
phlegmatic implies a temperament or constitution hard to arouse.
apathetic may imply a puzzling or deplorable indifference or inertness.
stolid implies a habitual absence of interest, responsiveness, or curiosity.
Examples of phlegmatic in a Sentence
Word History
Middle English fleumatik, flemmatik, fleugmatik, borrowed from Anglo-French & Late Latin; Anglo-French fleumatike, borrowed from Late Latin phlegmaticus "relating to or producing the humor phlegm," borrowed from Greek phlegmatikós "abounding in phlegm," from phlegmat-, phlégma "flame, inflammation, phlegm" + -ikos -ic entry 1
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
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Cite this Entry
“Phlegmatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phlegmatic. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.
Kids Definition
from earlier phlegm "one of the four body fluids once believed to affect a person's health," from Middle English fleume (same meaning), from early French fleume (same meaning), from Latin phlegma (same meaning), from Greek phlegma "flame, phlegm" see Word History at humor
Medical Definition
phlegmatic
adjectiveMore from Merriam-Webster on phlegmatic
Britannica English: Translation of phlegmatic for Arabic Speakers
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