GC: n
S: SDir – https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/tar-pitch (last access: 12 September 2024); Deza – https://www.deza.cz/en/node/78085 (last access: 12 September 2024).
N: 1. pitch (n.) (n.1): 1520s, “something that is thrust in or fixed or pierced,” from pitch (v.1). Sense of “slope, degree, inclination” is from 1540s; from 1550s as “highest point or reach;” from 1620s as “height” in general. Meaning “height of an arched roof above the floor” is by 1610s.
pitch (n.) (n.2): “thick, tenacious, resinous substance obtained from tar or turpentine, wood tar,” late 12c., pich, piche, from Old English pic “pitch,” from a Germanic borrowing (compare Old Saxon and Old Frisian pik, Middle Dutch pik, Dutch pek, Old High German pek, German Pech, Old Norse bik) of Latin pix (genitive picis) “pitch” (source of Old French poiz), from PIE root *pik- “pitch” (source also of Greek pissa (Attic pitta), Lithuanian pikis, Old Church Slavonic piklu “pitch,” Russian peklo “scorching heat, hell”).
The English word was improperly applied to sap from pine bark from late 14c. As a type of blackness from c. 1300. Pitch-black “as black as pitch” is attested from 1590s; pitch-dark “as dark as pitch, very dark” from 1680s.
2. pitch, in the chemical-process industries, the black or dark brown residue obtained by distilling coal tar, wood tar, fats, fatty acids, or fatty oils.
- Coal tar pitch is a soft to hard and brittle substance containing chiefly aromatic resinous compounds along with aromatic and other hydrocarbons and their derivatives; it is used chiefly as road tar, in waterproofing roofs and other structures, and to make electrodes.
- Wood tar pitch is a bright, lustrous substance containing resin acids; it is used chiefly in the manufacture of plastics and insulating materials and in caulking seams.
- The pitches derived from fats, fatty acids, or fatty oils by distillation are usually soft substances containing polymers and decomposition products; they are used chiefly in varnishes and paints and in floor coverings.
3. Black Products (Petroleum); Road Construction Materials; Crude Oil and Petroleum Products: pitch, tough pitch, pitch mastic, brea (rare).
- A dark-coloured, highly viscous residue obtained from the distillation of coal tar.
- brea: A viscous asphalt formed by the evaporation of volatile components from oil in seepages.
- The term “pitch” should not be confused with “bitumen” (UK) or “asphalt” (USA) which are petroleum residues.
- brea: a rarely used term.
4. Packaging; Chemistry; Pulp Preparation (papermaking): pitch.
- A surface deposit consisting mainly of wood resin which adheres to process equipment in a pulp or paper mill.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=pitch (last access. 2 May 2025). 2. EncBrit. (last access. 2 May 2025). 3 & 4. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=BRAI&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs, https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=poix&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access. 2 May 2025).
SYN: tough pitch, pitch mastic, brea (rare). (depending on context)
S: TERMIUM PLUS (last access. 2 May 2025)
CR: asphalt, bitumen, bituminous coal, coal, coke, coking-plant, natural gas, petroleum, tar.
