hypergolic
/hʌɪpɚˈɡɒlɪk/adjective, noun
hypergolic is an adjective meaning “Igniting spontaneously upon contact with an oxidizer” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled H-Y-P-E-R-G-O-L-I-C, and it appears about once in every 32 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does hypergolic mean?
adjective
- 1
Igniting spontaneously upon contact with an oxidizer.
Although the LF₂-LH₂ cryogenic combination is hypergolic, the toxicity of the fuel and the products of combustion have made the use of this system impractical. In general, the commonly used hypergolic propellants are considered conventional
- 2
Involving such a hypergolic agent.
noun
- 1
A hypergolic propellant; a hypergol.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce hypergolic?
- /hʌɪpɚˈɡɒlɪk/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-hypergolic.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hypergolic
- hypergolics plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is hypergolic?
Hypergolic appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 171,907th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Hypergolic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense igniting spontaneously on contact with an oxidiser:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | hypergolisch |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does hypergolic come from?
From Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”) + -ol + -ic, after the model of German Hypergol and hypergolisch. Equivalent to hypergol + -ic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).