Etymology

technetium

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Today it means: A metallic chemical element (symbol Tc) with an atomic number of 43. Full definition →

Ancient Greek τεχνητός (tekhnētós) ← Proto-Indo-European *téḱ-sneh₂
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*teḱ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*tetḱ-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*téḱ-sneh₂
  4. Ancient Greekτέχνη (tékhnē)
  5. Ancient Greekτεχνητός (tekhnētós)
  6. English todaytechnetium

From Ancient Greek τεχνητός (tekhnētós, “artificial, manmade”) + -ium, because it was the first manmade element synthesized.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.