Meanings
tellurium1
plural telluriums
- uncountableThe chemical element with atomic number 52. Symbol: Te. A rare, brittle, mildly toxic, silver-white metalloid.
- countableA single atom of this element.
tellurium2
- alternativeAlternative form of tellurion.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna brittle silver-white metalloid element that is related to selenium and sulfur; it is used in alloys and as a semiconductor; occurs mainly as tellurides in ores of copper and nickel and silver and gold
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
tellurium · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*telh₂-der.?
- Latintellūs
- New Latintellurium
- Englishtellurium
New Latin, coined by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1798, from Latin tellūs (“earth”) + -ium (“-ium”). Piecewise doublet of tellurion (see etymology 2).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →tellurium · noun
- Latintellus“earth”
- Englishtellurium
Latin tellus (“earth”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans telluur
- telluurchemical element
Arabic تِلُّورِيُوم, تِيلُورِيُوم
- تِلُّورِيُوم (tillūriyūm)chemical element
- تِيلُورِيُوم (tīlūriyūm)chemical element
Basque telurioa
- telurioachemical element
Bulgarian телу́р
- телу́р (telúr)chemical element
Catalan tel·luri
- tel·lurichemical element
Chinese Mandarin 碲
- 碲 (dì)chemical element
Czech tellur
- tellurchemical element
Danish tellur
- tellurchemical element
Dutch telluur, tellurium
- telluurchemical element
- telluriumchemical element
Esperanto teluro
- telurochemical element
Estonian telluur
- telluurchemical element
Finnish telluuri
- telluurichemical element
French tellure
- tellurechemical element
German Tellur
- Tellurchemical element
Greek τελλούριο
- τελλούριο (telloúrio)chemical element
Hebrew טלוריום
- טלוריום (teluryum)chemical element
Hindi वंगक
- वंगक (vaṅgak)chemical element
Hungarian tellúr
- tellúrchemical element
Icelandic tellúr
- tellúrchemical element
Irish teallúiriam
- teallúiriamchemical element
Italian tellurio
- telluriochemical element
Japanese テルル
- テルル (teruru)chemical element
Korean 텔루르, 텔루륨
- 텔루르 (tellureu)chemical element
- 텔루륨 (telluryum)chemical element
Latin tellurium
- telluriumchemical element
Latvian telūrs
- telūrschemical element
Lithuanian telūras
- telūraschemical element
Malay telurium
- teluriumchemical element
Norwegian tellur
- tellurchemical element
Polish tellur
- tellurchemical element
Portuguese telúrio
- telúriochemical element
Romanian telur
- telurchemical element
Russian теллу́р
- теллу́р (tellúr)chemical element
Scottish Gaelic teallùiriam
- teallùiriamchemical element
Slovak telúr
- telúrchemical element
Spanish teluro
- telurochemical element
Swedish tellur
- tellurchemical element
Tagalog teluro
- telurochemical element
Tamil வெண்கந்தகம்
- வெண்கந்தகம் (veṇkantakam)chemical element
Thai เทลลูเรียม
- เทลลูเรียม (teel-luu-rîiam)chemical element
Turkish tellür
- tellürchemical element
Ukrainian телу́р
- телу́р (telúr)chemical element
Vietnamese telua, telu
- teluachemical element
- teluchemical element
Welsh telwriwm
- telwriwmchemical element
Cite this entry
tellurium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tellurium
“tellurium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tellurium. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tellurium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tellurium.
Source: tellurium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.