Etymology

silicium

S1I1L1I1C3I1U1M3

Today it means: The chemical element silicon. Full definition →

New Latin silicium ← Latin silex
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromsilex“flint”
  2. New Latin · learned borrowing fromsilicium
  3. English todaysilicium

Learned borrowing from New Latin silicium, from Latin silex (“flint”) + -ium. Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1808.

Words from the same roots

Latinsilex all →

siliconsilicasilexsilicicin silico

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.