pissasphalt

noun

1. A soft, black, tarry bitumen, intermediate between petroleum and asphalt.

   uncountable

   These minerals are intimately incorporated with all asphaltum, pissasphalt and petroleum. […] The impregnated sand, A to B, has a nearly horizontal lamination, but is contorted in places by the ascent of the pissasphalt.

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Latin pissasphaltus, from Ancient Greek πισσάσφαλτος (pissásphaltos), from πίσσα (píssa, “pitch”) + ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos, “asphalt”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry pissasphalt (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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