grafito

graphite

noun grah-FEE-toh Rare

Origin: From Greek 'graphein' (to write), via German 'Graphit' coined by Abraham Werner in 1789.

Usage Note

Grafito refers to the mineral graphite (the carbon allotrope used in pencils and as a lubricant), not to be confused with grafiti (graffiti, street art) — two distinct words with distinct spellings in Spanish. The pencil's 'lead' is called mina de grafito, though colloquially speakers still say mina de lápiz. The plural grafitos is regular.

Examples

"El lápiz contiene grafito en su interior."

Natural Translation

The pencil contains graphite inside.

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