Etymology

rubidium

R1U1B3I1D2I1U1M3

Today it means: The chemical element (symbol Rb) with an atomic number of 37. It is a soft, highly reactive alkali metal. Full definition →

New Latin rubidium ← Latin rūbidus ← Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁rewdʰ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  3. Latinrūbidus
  4. New Latinrubidium
  5. English todayrubidium

A New Latin word derived by German chemist R. W. Bunsen in 1861, from Latin rūbidus (“red”) because its spectrum has two red lines.

Words from the same roots

Latinrūbidus all →

rubidus

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.