Etymology

xenotime

X8E1N1O1T1I1M3E1

Today it means: A yellow-brown mineral, yttrium phosphate (YPO₄) Full definition →

Ancient Greek κενός
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκενός“vain”
  2. English todayxenotime

From Ancient Greek κενός (kenós, “vain”), τιμή (timḗ, “honour”), because the yttrium in the mineral was originally thought to be a new element.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekκενός all →

cenotaphceno-cenosilicaphobiakenophobiakenopsiakenotron

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.