Etymology

potassium

P3O1T1A1S1S1I1U1M3

Today it means: A soft, waxy, silvery reactive metal that is never found unbound in nature; an element with atomic number 19 and atomic weight of 39.0983. Full definition →

English potassa ← Dutch potasch ← Middle Dutch asche
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*puttaz
  2. Frankish*pott
  3. Old Dutch*pot
  4. Middle Dutchpot
  5. Dutchpot
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eHs-der.?
  7. Proto-Germanic*askǭ
  8. Proto-West Germanic*askā
  9. Old Dutch*aska
  10. Middle Dutchasche
  11. Dutchas
  12. Dutchpotas
  13. Dutchpotasch
  14. Englishpotassa
  15. English todaypotassium

Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1807, from potassa (a Latinized form of potash) + -ium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.