# siphon
## English
### Alternative forms

* syphon

### Etymology

From Middle French siphon, from Old French sifon, from Latin sipho, from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”), of uncertain origin; possibly related to Latin tibia (“pipe, flute of bone”), with the irregular forms suggesting a non-Indo-European loan source, perhaps of the shape *twi-, *twibh.

### Pronunciation

* Rhymes: -aɪfən
* IPA: /ˈsaɪfən/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Noun

siphon (plural siphons)
* A bent pipe or tube with one end lower than the other, in which hydrostatic pressure exerted due to the force of gravity moves liquid from one reservoir to another.
** 1891, Charles Hilton Fagge, Philip Henry Pye-Smith, Text‐book of the Principles and Practice of Medicine, volume II, page 199:The asserted fact that free hydrochloric acid is absent from the fluid removed by a siphon in cases of cancer of the stomach has been lately much discussed in Germany, and Dr Van der Welden, of Strassburg, introduced an alcoholic solution of tropæolin as a test with this object.
* A soda siphon.
* (zoology) A tubelike organ found in animals or elongated cell found in plants.
** 1962, Fish Bulletin, numbers 118-130, Department of Fish and Game, page 48:As a result, although corbinas commonly utilize mollusks, they are limited to the siphons, foot, or other soft parts that either extend from the shell or can be picked from it.

#### Derived terms

* siphon condenser
* siphon cup
* siphonic
* siphoniferous
* siphon recorder
* thermic siphon
* thermosiphon

#### Descendants

* → Welsh: seiffon
* → Irish: siofón

#### Translations
### Verb

siphon (third-person singular simple present siphons, present participle siphoning, simple past and past participle siphoned)
* (transitive) To transfer (liquid) by means of a siphon.
    He used a rubber tube to siphon petrol from the car's fuel tank.
* (transitive, by extension) To transfer directly.
** 2012 Sep, Rupert Christiansen, “Quiet, Please”, in Literary Review:Today's teenagers are siphoning dangerous levels of membrane-damaging noise directly into their eardrums, with long-term effects that otologists prophesy will be disastrous for their hearing and lead to an epidemic of middle-aged deafness in the next thirty years.
* (transitive, figurative, often with "off") To steal or skim off something, such as money, in small amounts; to embezzle.
** 2009, Alan Dean Foster, Montezuma Strip, →ISBN:In Juchipila power to the whole community of thirty thousand evaporated as the supraheavy grid buried alongside the little mountain cantina siphoned energy from the entire west-central portion of the Namerican national power net.
** 2010, John Townsend, Now What Do I Do?:Attempting to “unfeel” whatever you feel is a huge drain on your energy, and that effort can siphon off the power you need to crunch your problem.

#### Derived terms

* siphon the python

#### See also

* seep
* sip

### References

* Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

### Anagrams

* Pinhos, Pishon

## French
### Etymology

From Middle French siphon, from Old French sifon, from Latin sīphō from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”), of unknown ultimate origin.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

siphon m (plural siphons)
* siphon

#### Derived terms

* siphonner

#### Descendants

* → German: Siphon
** → Czech: sifon
* → Romanian: sifon

### Further reading

* “siphon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.