來自中古英語 flewme、fleume、fleme,來自古法語 fleume、中古法語 flemme(法語 flegme),其來源是拉丁語 phlegma,來自古希臘語 φλέγμα (phlégma, “火焰;燃燒;體內濕滑的體液”),來自φλέγειν (phlégein, “燃燒”)。對照phlox、flagrant、flame、bleak (形容詞)、fulminate。拼法後來受拉丁語和希臘語的詞根而進行過調整。
phlegm (通常不可數,複數 phlegms)
- (歷史) 黏液 (自13世紀)
- 1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, HarperCollins 1993:
- Each person's unique mixture of these substances determines his temperament: a predominance of blood gives a sanguine temperament; a predominance of phlegm makes one phlegmatic; yellow bile, bilious (or choleric); and black bile, melancholic.
- 痰 (自14世紀)
- 2005, "Endangered Species?" Hannah Beech, Time, 14 Nov 2005:
- "Even some members of the new bourgeoisie indulge in conspicuously boorish behavior, like hawking phlegm onto the pavement or picking their noses at business meetings."
- (歷史,化學,鍊金術) 從植物體中獲得的蒸餾物;水溶液 (自16世紀)
- 1812, Humphry Davy, The Elements of Chemical Philosophy, Introduction, Part I. Vol. I, pp. 50-51:
- The attempts made to analyse vegetable substances previous to 1720, merely produced their resolution into the supposed elements of the chemists of those days, namely, salts, Earths, phlegm, and sulphur.
- 鎮定,冷靜 (自16世紀)
- 1942, "Warning to Sweden", Time, 5 Oct 1942:
- But Swedish Nazis also talked of the necessity of saving Sweden from Bolshevism, and with the menacing Berlin radio gnawing in their ears many Swedes lost their Scandinavian phlegm.