Meanings
- uncountablechemistryThe synthetic transactinide chemical element with atomic number 113.
Japanese scientists behind the discovery of element 113, the first atomic element found in Asia - indeed, the first found outside Europe or the United States - have dubbed it "nihonium" after the Japanese-language name for their country.
2016 June 9, “First element discovered in Asia named 'nihonium', after Japan”, in Reuters2 more examples
In January 2016 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced the discovery of four new elements, so completing the seventh row of the periodic table. They have since been named as nihonium, Nh, muscovium^([sic]), Mc, tennessine, Ts, and organesson^([sic]), Og. The procedures for naming new elements are clearly laid out by IUPAC.
2018, Mark Weller, Tina Overton, Fraser Armstrong, Jonathan Rourke, chapter 1, in Inorganic Chemistry, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 21Researchers carefully choose the makeup of the beam and the target in hopes of producing a designer atom of the element desired. That’s how the four newest elements were created: nihonium (element 113), moscovium (115), tennessine (117) and oganesson (118) (SN Online: 11/30/16).
2019 February 27, Emily Conover, “Extreme elements push the boundaries of the periodic table”, in Science News- countablechemistryAn atom of this element.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Japanese日本“Japan”
- Englishnihonium
From Japanese 日本 (Nihon, “Japan”) + -ium. Promulgated in June 2016 by the IUPAC based on recommendations of the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science to honor the country where the element was discovered. Doublet of nipponium.
More words from Japanese
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian нихоний
- нихоний (nihonij)Translations
Catalan nihoni
- nihoniTranslations
Chinese Mandarin 鉨 /鿭
- 鉨 /鿭 (nǐ)Translations
Esperanto nihonio
- nihonioTranslations
Finnish nihonium
- nihoniumTranslations
French nihonium
- nihoniumTranslations
German Nihonium
- NihoniumTranslations
Greek νιχόνιο
- νιχόνιο (nichónio)Translations
Hebrew ניהוניוּם
- ניהוניוּםTranslations
Hindi निहोनियम
- निहोनियम (nihoniyam)Translations
Hungarian nihónium
- nihóniumTranslations
Italian nihonio
- nihonioTranslations
Japanese ニホニウム
- ニホニウム (nihoniumu)Translations
Korean 니호늄
- 니호늄 (nihonyum)Translations
Latvian nihonijs
- nihonijsTranslations
Polish nihon
- nihonTranslations
Portuguese nihônio, nihónio
- nihônioTranslations
- nihónioTranslations
- niônioTranslations
- niónioTranslations
Russian нихоний
- нихоний (nixonij)Translations
Slovak nihónium
- nihóniumTranslations
Spanish nihonio
- nihonioTranslations
Swedish nihonium
- nihoniumTranslations
Ukrainian нігоній
- нігоній (nihonij)Translations
Yiddish ניהאָניוּם
- ניהאָניוּם (nihonyum)Translations
Cite this entry
nihonium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nihonium
“nihonium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nihonium. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nihonium,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nihonium.
Source: nihonium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.