• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Language / Where Did the Word “Tarmac” Come From and How Did the Term For Asphalt Originate?

Where Did the Word “Tarmac” Come From and How Did the Term For Asphalt Originate?

June 5, 2020 by Karen Hill

The hard pavement surface we now call asphalt was discovered by chance when an Englishman named E. Purnell Hooley accidentally spilled tar onto some crushed stone.

Hooley named this new black pavement by taking the last name of Scotsman John MacAdam, who had developed the use of crushed stone for a firm, dry highway, and prefixing it with “tar.”

Tarmacadam was a mouthful, however, and was soon shortened to Tarmac.

Hooley patented Tarmac in 1903.

The term tarmac is also used for other materials and surfaces such as the paved runway of an airport.

Related Facts

  • How does an airplane land in fog using the instrument landing system?
  • How did prehistoric humans transport and arrange the giant boulders at Stonehenge?
  • How do cigarette companies remove and reduce tar from cigarettes?
  • How Much Oil Is There In The Tar Sands Of Canada?
  • How did the ancient Egyptians build the Great Pyramid at Giza?
  • Why does Pizza Taste Better when Baked in a Brick Oven or on a Pizza Stone?

Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Does the Word “Boycott” Mean, How Did the Term Originate, and Who is it Named After?
Next Post: What Does the Word “Factoid” Mean and Where Did it Come From? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy