Vulcan

American  

[vuhl-kuhn] / ˈvʌl kən /

noun

1. the ancient Roman god of fire and metalworking, identified with the Greek Hephaestus.

2. Military. a six-barrel, 20 mm U.S. Army antiaircraft gun system mounted on an armored personnel carrier and first deployed in 1968.

3. Astronomy. a hypothetical planet nearest the sun whose existence was erroneously postulated to account for perturbations in Mercury's orbit.

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Vulcan ¹ British  

/ ˈvʌlkən, vʌlˈkeɪnɪən /

noun

1. a hypothetical planet once thought to lie within the orbit of Mercury

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Vulcan ² British  

/ vʌlˈkeɪnɪən, ˈvʌlkən /

noun

1. Greek counterpart: Hephaestus.  the Roman god of fire and metalworking

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Vulcan Cultural  

1. The Roman and Greek god of fire and metalworking; the blacksmith of the gods. He suffered bodily deformities and lameness. According to some stories, he was married to Venus, the goddess of love and beauty; in other stories, he was married to one of the three Graces. Vulcan was a son of Jupiter.

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Other Word Forms

• Vulcanian adjective

Etymology

Origin of Vulcan

First recorded in 1505–15, Vulcan is from the Latin word Vulcānus

Example Sentences

The term “vulcanization” comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

Among building materials companies, Builders FirstSource jumped 5.7%, and concrete supplier Vulcan Materials rose 2.7%.

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

The government last year reached a $1.4bn deal with Vulcan Elements, a rare earth magnet start-up, to bolster the domestic rare earths supply chain.

From BBC • Jan. 26, 2026

The deal involved the Commerce Department taking equity in Vulcan and the Defense Department getting warrants to buy stock in both companies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

He tried to make us watch a couple times, and me and Erlan didn’t really get it, but we liked the pointy-ear stuff and the Vulcan salute.

From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff