the.com/flammability
How enthusiastically a thing says yes to fire.
means A measure of how easily a material will catch fire and keep burning.
from Traces back to the Latin flammare, 'to set on fire,' itself rooted in flamma, 'flame.' English borrowed 'flammable' from this Latin stock, while the native-feeling 'inflammable' actually arrived first, via the same root with the intensifying in- prefix — causing centuries of confusion since 'in-' usually negates. Safety labelers eventually pushed 'flammable' into wider use precisely to avoid people misreading 'inflammable' as fireproof. The abstract noun 'flammability' simply tacks on -ity to name the quality itself.
- not the same as
- explosiveness is speed, flammability is willingness
- surprising culprit
- custard powder can ignite as airborne dust cloud
- measured by
- flash point, the lowest temp vapors catch spark
- everyday irony
- cotton burns faster than most synthetic fabrics