🇵🇹Portuguese Source WordCode: PT

biodegradável

Pronunciation / Transliteration: bee-o-deh-grah-dah-vehw

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Biodegradable/ˌbaɪ.oʊ.dɪˈɡreɪ.də.bəl/
adjectivenounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #4500 frequency
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🇵🇹 Example Sentence in Portuguese:

"O material é totalmente biodegradável."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As adjective
  1. 1

    Capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms, thereby avoiding pollution.

    "The company switched to biodegradable packaging to reduce its environmental impact."
  2. 2

    Able to be broken down into natural elements by the action of biological processes.

    "These plastic bags are fully biodegradable within six months in a composting environment."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Coined in the mid-20th century, the term combines the Greek 'bios' (life) with 'degrade' (from Latin 'de-' down + 'gradus' step), joined with the suffix '-able' meaning capable of. It emerged alongside the rise of modern environmentalism and polymer science to describe materials that naturally break down.

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