# brimstone

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbɹɪmstəʊn/ · frequency rank #36,055

## Definitions
1. The sulfur of hell; hell, damnation.
2. Sulfur.
3. A whore.
4. Used attributively as an intensifier in exclamations.
5. The butterfly Gonepteryx rhamni of the Pieridae family.
6. Online content of exceptionally poor quality, lower than coal.

## Etymology
From Middle English brymston, brimston, bremston, forms of brinston, brenston, bernston, from Old English brynstān (“brimstone”, literally “burn-stone”), equivalent to brian + stone, or burn + stone. Cognate with Scots brunstane (“brimstone”), Icelandic brennisteinn (“sulfur / sulphur, brimstone”), German Bernstein (“amber”). Compare also brimfire. More at burn, stone. Although once a synonym for sulfur, the word is now largely restricted to poetic and Biblical usage.

## Common misspellings (14)
`bbrimstone`, `birmstone`, `brimmstone`, `brimsotne`, `brimsstone`, `brimstnoe`, `brimstoen`, `brimstonne`, `brimsttone`, `brimtsone`, `brismtone`, `brmistone`, `brrimstone`, `rbimstone`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/brimstone