Etymology

actinide

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Today it means: Any of the 15 radioactive elements of the periodic table from actinium to lawrencium that are positioned under the lanthanides, to which they have similar chemistry. Full definition →

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ← English actin- ← Ancient Greek ᾰ̓κτῑ́ς (ăktī́s)
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The story

  1. Ancient Greekᾰ̓κτῑ́ς (ăktī́s)
  2. Englishactino-
  3. Englishactin-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  5. English todayactinide

From actin- + -ide.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.