alchemy

中文： 炼金术

1. The premodern and early modern study of physical changes, particularly in Europe, Arabia, and China; and chiefly in pursuit of an elixir of immortality, a universal panacea, and/or a philosopher's stone able to transmute base metals into gold, eventually developing into chemistry. (uncountable)
2. The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation. (countable)
3. Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm. (countable, slang)

复数 alchemies