Word
pascal
Phoneticspas·cal
US/pæˈskæɫ/
UK/pˈæskəl/
Definitions
01unit of pressure
n. a unit used in science to measure pressure or stress.
n. the SI derived unit of pressure or stress, equivalent to one newton per square metre.
“The scientist measured the air pressure in pascals during the experiment.”
“The structural integrity of the bridge was tested by applying a load of several thousand pascals to the central support beam.”
Technical
Usage
Often abbreviated as 'Pa' in scientific notation.
02programming language
n. a computer programming language designed to teach good coding habits.
n. a high-level, imperative, and procedural programming language developed to encourage structured programming and data structuring.
“Many students learned how to code using Pascal in the 1980s.”
“While modern developers often prefer Python or C++, Pascal remains a significant milestone in the history of structured software design.”
Technical
03proper name
n. a French surname or a male first name.
n. a surname or masculine given name of Latin origin, most commonly associated with French-speaking regions.
“Blaise Pascal was a famous French mathematician and philosopher.”
“The lecture focused on the philosophical contributions of Pascal, specifically his thoughts on faith and human reason.”
Formal
Real-World Examples
“Applied to Bennu, using cohesive forces measured from the returned samples, the framework put the surface strength below 1 pascal, matching independent estimates from remote sensing and from the sampling event itself.” Etymology
From Latin Paschālis, from paschālis (“Paschal; of or pertaining to Easter”), from pascha (“Easter”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives), for birth on Easter, or in honor of the 9th-century pope Paschal I (died 824). Doublet of Paschal. The programming language was named after French mathematician, philosopher and physicist Blaise Pascal (1623–1662).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.