An archaic or alternate spelling of asbestos, a naturally occurring silicate mineral with long, thin fibers that resist heat and fire.
Latin form of Greek asbestos (a-, without + sbestos, extinguishable). This variant spelling reflects older English usage from the 16th-18th centuries before the modern 'asbestos' spelling became standardized.
Different spellings of asbestos tell a story of how English speakers struggled to spell a Greek word they'd never heard—some wrote 'asbestus' with a Latin-style ending, and others eventually settled on the simpler 'asbestos.'
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