Plastic comes from Greek plastikós meaning 'fit for moulding', from plássein ('to shape'). The word described sculpture for centuries before chemists adopted it for the synthetic material in 1905.
A synthetic mouldable material made from polymers; as an adjective, capable of being shaped or moulded.
From Latin plasticus meaning 'of moulding', from Greek plastikós meaning 'fit for moulding, capable of being shaped', from plássein meaning 'to mould, to form, to shape'. The word was used in English for centuries as an adjective — the 'plastic arts' (sculpture, ceramics) were arts of shaping. The noun came only in 1905 when Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic. The material was named for its defining property
Plastic meant 'mouldable' for three centuries before anyone made the material. The 'plastic arts' — sculpture, ceramics, metalwork — were named for the Greek word plastikós, 'fit for moulding'. When chemists finally created a material that could be shaped into anything, they reached for the same ancient Greek word. The material was named after the property, not the other way