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Vulcanize might sound like something Spock from Star Trek might do, but the explanation behind this word has more to do with ancient mythology than it does with science fiction. Vulcanization in its simplest form consists of heating rubber with sulfur in order to improve the rubber's qualities. The Roman god Vulcan (whose Greek counterpart is Hephaestus) was the god of fire and of skills that used fire, such as metalworking. So when Charles Goodyear discovered that high heat would result in stronger rubber, he called the process "vulcanization" after the god of fire. Goodyear developed the idea in 1839 and acquired a patent for it in 1844.
Examples of vulcanize in a Sentence
Jan Wagner, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 May 2026
As skate and vulcanized shoes continue to gain traction in the market, Pharrell Williams and Louis Vuitton are offering up their own take on the model.
—Stephen Garner, Footwear News, 4 Nov. 2025
World Expos, or World’s Fairs as some are known, have celebrated some of the major inventions of their time, including stereoscopic photography, vulcanized rubber, the zipper, the internal combustion engine and IMAX.
—Christy Choi, CNN, 31 Jan. 2024
Fun fact: basketball was invented in Springfield, Mass., as was vulcanized rubber.
—Andrea Cohen, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2023
It’s made with an innovative polymer called Thermoplastic Vulcanizate, or TPV, which blends materials that are set at high temperatures, otherwise known as vulcanizing.
—Kate Morgan, Popular Mechanics, 14 Apr. 2023
The next step is to nuke the pothole again, heating the mix to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit to vulcanize the asphalt and create a tight bond.
—Jason Daley, Discover Magazine, 14 Nov. 2011
Cite this Entry
“Vulcanize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vulcanize. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
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vulcanize
verb
