Pyrex

name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of pyrex. alt-of, alternative, uncountable
  2. 2
    A kind of heat-resistant borosilicate glass, made by mixing a high concentration of boron oxides into the molten glass to reduce its thermal expansion coefficient. uncountable

    "This steel tube slips into the pyrex glass focus tube, which is jacketed by a vacuum"

  3. 3
    a borosilicate glass with a low coefficient of expansion; used for heat-resistant glassware in cooking and chemistry wordnet
  4. 4
    Any borosilicate glass. broadly, uncountable
  5. 5
    Any glass capable of withstanding high temperatures, such as tempered glass suitable for cooking. broadly, uncountable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A brand of glassware produced by the Corning corporation, capable of resisting high temperatures, and suitable for cooking applications, currently made with tempered glass.
  2. 2
    A brand of glassware produced by Corning using borosilicate glass. historical

Example

More examples

"This steel tube slips into the pyrex glass focus tube, which is jacketed by a vacuum"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From pie + r + -ex. First manufactured by the Corning Glassware Factory in 1915. * 1957, Letter from the Corning Glassware Factory: *: "We had a number of prior trademarks ending in the letters ex. One of the first commercial products to be sold under the new mark was a pie plate, and in the interests of euphonism the letter "r" was inserted between pie and ex, and the whole thing condensed to pyrex."

Etymology 2

Genericization of the trademark Pyrex

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.