Etymology

iridium

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Today it means: (uncountable) A chemical element with an atomic number of 77: a very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group. Full definition →

New Latin iridium ← Latin iris ← Ancient Greek ἶρις (îris)
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The story

  1. Proto-Hellenic*wī́ris
  2. Ancient Greekἶρις (îris)
  3. Latiniris
  4. New Latiniridium
  5. English todayiridium

From international scientific vocabulary, from New Latin iridium, from Classical Latin iris + -ium, from Ancient Greek ἶρις (îris, “rainbow”), because of the bright colour of many of the element's salts.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekἶρις all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.