crucible

Meaning

Noun

• A cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment used to contain chemical compounds when heating them to very high temperatures.
• A heat-resistant container in which metals are melted, usually at temperatures above 500°C, commonly made of graphite with clay as a binder.
• The bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace; the hearth.
• A very difficult and trying experience, that acts as a refining or hardening process.

Origin

• From Latin crucibulum, apparently a derivative of crux, perhaps by analogy to thūribulum and suffix -bulum.