Volat

Volat is a term with several distinct uses, depending on linguistic or disciplinary context. In classical Latin, volat is the third-person singular present active indicative of volāre, meaning "he flies" or "it flies." The form appears in many Latin texts and is part of the standard verb conjugation of the first conjugation.

In English-language science writing, volat is not a standard technical term. More common are the words volatile, volatility, and volatilization, which describe substances that vaporize readily or statistical measures of price fluctuations.

The root volat- is connected to the Latin volātilis, meaning "flying" or "able to fly," and has given rise to related words such as volant (an English adjective meaning "flying") and volatile (evaporating or unstable). The sense shift from "flying" to "easily vaporized" or "rapidly changing" reflects metaphorical extension in modern languages.

In biology and chemistry, compounds that readily become vapors are described as volatile or as volatiles; in some texts these are grouped under "volatiles" rather than using the standalone form "volat." The term "volat" may also appear as a surname or a toponym in rare instances.

See also: volatile, volatility, volant, volatilization.