What does "bakelite" mean?

A heat-resisting chemically inert phenol formaldehyde resin (an early thermosetting plastic).

How do you pronounce "bakelite"?

Pronounced //ˈbeɪk.ə.laɪt//.

Common synonyms include: acrylic, plastic, polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride.

//ˈbeɪk.ə.laɪt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A heat-resisting chemically inert phenol formaldehyde resin (an early thermosetting plastic). uncountable
2
Alternative form of Bakelite. alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
3
a thermosetting plastic used as electric insulators and for making plastic ware and telephone receivers etc. wordnet

Patented July 1907 by its inventor, Leo Hendrik Baekeland. See -ite.

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