Meanings
- uncountablechemistryThe chemical element with an atomic number of 12. It is a light, easily flammable, silvery-white alkaline earth metal.
1999, Chapter 1 "Barrens" Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson The building looked only like a wall glowing in the firelight, but sometimes a barrage of magnesium blue light made its windowframes jump out of the darkness.
1 more example
A sample of carbon removed from the ocean in the solid form of calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide from UCLA's SeaChange program -- now known as Equatic -- in 2023.
2024 April 21, Laura Paddison, “Can this ocean-based carbon plant help save the world? Some scientists are raising red flags”, in CNN- uncountablechemistryAn atom of this element.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna light silver-white ductile bivalent metallic element; in pure form it burns with brilliant white flame; occurs naturally only in combination (as in magnesite and dolomite and carnallite and spinel and olivine)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient GreekΜάγνης (Mágnēs)
- Ancient GreekΜαγνησία (Magnēsía)
- LatinMagnēsia
- Latinmagnēsius
- New Latinmagnēsium
- Englishmagnesium
From New Latin magnēsium, from Ancient Greek μαγνησία (magnēsía), after Μαγνησία (Magnēsía, “Magnesia”), a region in Thessaly. Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy, as a modification of his original suggestion, magnium.
More words from New Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
Arabic مَغْنِيسِيُوم
- مَغْنِيسِيُوم (maḡnīsiyūm)chemical element
Basque magnesioa
- magnesioachemical element
Bengali ম্যাগনেশিয়াম
- ম্যাগনেশিয়াম (mêgneśiẏam)chemical element
Bulgarian магне́зий
- магне́зий (magnézij)chemical element
Catalan magnesi
- magnesichemical element
Chinese Mandarin 鎂 /镁
- 鎂 /镁 (měi)chemical element
Czech hořčík
- hořčíkchemical element
Danish magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
Dutch magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
Esperanto magnezio
- magneziochemical element
Estonian magneesium
- magneesiumchemical element
Finnish magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
French magnésium
- magnésiumchemical element
German Magnesium
- Magnesiumchemical element
Greek μαγνήσιο
- μαγνήσιο (magnísio)chemical element
Hawaiian makanekiuma
- makanekiumachemical element
Hebrew מגנזיום
- מגנזיום (magnezium)chemical element
Hindi भ्राजातु, मैग्नीसियम
- भ्राजातु (bhrājātu)chemical element
- मैग्नीसियम (maignīsiyam)chemical element
Hungarian magnézium
- magnéziumchemical element
Icelandic magnesín, magnín
- magnesínchemical element
- magnínchemical element
- magníumchemical element
- magnesíumchemical element
Indonesian magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
Irish maignéisiam
- maignéisiamchemical element
Italian magnesio
- magnesiochemical element
Japanese マグネシウム, 苦土素
- マグネシウム (maguneshiumu)chemical element
- 苦土素 (kudoso)chemical element
Korean 마그네슘
- 마그네슘 (mageunesyum)chemical element
Latin magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
Latvian magnijs
- magnijschemical element
Lithuanian magnis
- magnischemical element
Malay magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
Māori konupora
- konuporachemical element
Norwegian Bokmål magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
Persian منیزیم
- منیزیم (manyaziyom)chemical element
Polish magnez
- magnezchemical element
Portuguese magnésio
- magnésiochemical element
Punjabi ਮੈਗਨੇਸ਼ਿਅਮ
- ਮੈਗਨੇਸ਼ਿਅਮ (maigneśiama)chemical element
Romanian magneziu
- magneziuchemical element
Russian ма́гний
- ма́гний (mágnij)chemical element
Scottish Gaelic maignèisiam, magnesium
- maignèisiamchemical element
- magnesiumchemical element
Slovak horčík
- horčíkchemical element
Spanish magnesio
- magnesiochemical element
Swahili magnesi
- magnesichemical element
Swedish magnesium
- magnesiumchemical element
Tagalog magnesyo
- magnesyochemical element
Tamil மக்னீசியம், வல்லகுவம்
- மக்னீசியம் (makṉīciyam)chemical element
- வல்லகுவம் (vallakuvam)chemical element
Thai แมกนีเซียม
- แมกนีเซียม (mɛ́k-nii-sîiam)chemical element
Turkish magnezyum
- magnezyumchemical element
Ukrainian ма́гній, ма́ґній
- ма́гній (máhnij)chemical element
- ма́ґній (mágnij)chemical element
Urdu میگنیشیم
- میگنیشیمchemical element
Vietnamese magiê
- magiêchemical element
Welsh magnesiwm
- magnesiwmchemical element
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
magnesium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/magnesium
“magnesium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/magnesium. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “magnesium,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/magnesium.
Source: magnesium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.