the.com/beaker
the unsung workhorse of science, holding chaos calmly while flasks get all the glamour.
means A wide-mouthed cylindrical container, usually glass or plastic with a small pouring lip, used in laboratories for holding, mixing, and heating liquids.
from From Middle English 'biker,' borrowed from Old Norse 'bikarr' or Middle Dutch 'beker,' meaning a drinking cup. The trail runs deeper to Medieval Latin 'bicarius,' likely from Greek 'bikos,' an earthenware jug. So long before it held acid in a lab, a beaker held something you'd actually want to drink — the scientific sense is a relatively modern repurposing of an old word for a humble cup.
- name origin
- From Old Norse word for a drinking cup.
- poor accuracy
- Markings are estimates, not precise measurements.
- muppet namesake
- The lab assistant Muppet says only 'meep.'
- griffin design
- The classic flat-bottom style dates to 1876.
- spout purpose
- That little lip exists purely for clean pouring.
beaker crater — impact crater on mars discovered by mars reconnaissance orbiter, known for gullies and seasonal flows