Meaning & use
charcoal
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Meanings
noununcountable
A black, porous form of carbon made by heating wood without air, used as fuel or for drawing.
Grammar: Uncountable when referring to the substance; can be countable when referring to a piece of charcoal.
Patterns
- a piece of charcoal
- charcoal fire
- charcoal drawing
We cooked the meat over a charcoal fire.
The artist sketched the portrait with charcoal.
The barbecue needs more charcoal to keep burning.
noununcountable
A dark gray color, often with a slight blue tint.
Grammar: Used as a color adjective before nouns, e.g., 'charcoal suit'.
Patterns
- charcoal gray
- charcoal suit
She wore a charcoal suit to the interview.
The walls were painted a cool charcoal.
His charcoal sweater matched his trousers.
Word forms
| plural | charcoals |
|---|
Common combinations
- charcoal fire
- We sat around the charcoal fire and told stories.
- charcoal drawing
- The gallery displayed several charcoal drawings.
- activated charcoal
- Activated charcoal is used in water filters.
- charcoal gray
- He painted the room charcoal gray.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- char verb
- To burn something slightly, often producing charcoal.
Commonly confused: charcoal or coal?
charcoal vs coal
Coal is mined from the earth; charcoal is produced by burning wood.
Practice
We need to buy some ______ for the barbecue.
Choose one answer.
'Charcoal' is the correct uncountable noun for the fuel. 'Coal' is a different substance, 'charcoals' is plural but not used for the fuel, and 'charcoal's' is possessive.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “charcoal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.