Meanings
plural pitchblendes
- countableuncountablechemistryNaturally-occurring uranium oxide, a variety of the mineral uraninite.
Working in Paris in 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie processed thousands of pounds of pitchblende from the same glass-factory tailings in order to isolate two radioactive elements that had hitherto been unknown: radium and polonium.
2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 205
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna mineral consisting of uranium oxide and trace amounts of radium and thorium and polonium and lead and helium; uraninite in massive form is called pitchblende which is the chief uranium ore
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- GermanPechblende
- Englishpitchblende
From German Pechblende, from Pech (“pitch”) + Blende (“blende”).
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian пехбленда, уранит
- пехбленда (pehblenda)a type of uraninite
- уранит (uranit)a type of uraninite
Finnish pikivälke
- pikivälkea type of uraninite
French pechblende
- pechblendea type of uraninite
German Pechblende
- Pechblendea type of uraninite
Italian pechblenda
- pechblendaa type of uraninite
Russian уранини́т, ура́новая смо́лка
- уранини́т (uraninít)a type of uraninite
- ура́новая смо́лка (uránovaja smólka)a type of uraninite
- смоляна́я обма́нка (smoljanája obmánka)a type of uraninite
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pitchblende
Cite this entry
pitchblende. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pitchblende
“pitchblende.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pitchblende. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pitchblende,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pitchblende.
Source: pitchblende on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.