Meanings
- uncountablechemistryThe chemical element (halogen) with atomic number 117.
One of the newest members of the periodic table will likely have a familiar sound to it, even if the spelling might be a bit off: Tennessine.
2016 June 8, “Tennessee Gets a Place at the Table with Newest Element: Tennessine”, in Tennessee Today, archived from the original on 09 Jun 20162 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 NewsSynonyms: mul:Ts, mul:Uus, ununseptium, eka-astatine
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe chemical element (halogen) with atomic number 117.
nounAn atom of this element.
Origin
- CherokeeᏔᎾᏏ (tanasi)
- EnglishTennessee
- Englishtennessine
From Tennessee + -ine, named after the Tennessee region. Promulgated in June 2016 by the IUPAC based on recommendations of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to honor the region where the element was discovered. Suffix -ine, rather than -ium, is due to it being a halogen (like fluorine or chlorine).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans tennessien
- tennessienchemical element with atomic number 117
Arabic تِينِيسِين
- تِينِيسِين (tīnīsīn)chemical element with atomic number 117
Bulgarian тенесин
- тенесин (tenesin)chemical element with atomic number 117
Catalan tennessi
- tennessichemical element with atomic number 117
Chinese Mandarin 鿬
- 鿬 (tián)chemical element with atomic number 117
Dutch tennessine
- tennessinechemical element with atomic number 117
Esperanto teneso
- tenesochemical element with atomic number 117
Finnish tennessiini
- tennessiinichemical element with atomic number 117
French tennesse
- tennessechemical element with atomic number 117
German Tenness
- Tennesschemical element with atomic number 117
Greek τενέσιο
- τενέσιο (tenésio)chemical element with atomic number 117
Hebrew טנסין
- טנסיןchemical element with atomic number 117
Hungarian tenesszium
- tenessziumchemical element with atomic number 117
Icelandic tennessín
- tennessínchemical element with atomic number 117
Italian tennesso, tennessinio
- tennessochemical element with atomic number 117
- tennessiniochemical element with atomic number 117
Japanese テネシン
- テネシン (teneshin)chemical element with atomic number 117
Korean 테네신
- 테네신 (tenesin)chemical element with atomic number 117
Latvian tenesīns
- tenesīnschemical element with atomic number 117
Persian تنسین
- تنسینchemical element with atomic number 117
Polish tenes
- teneschemical element with atomic number 117
Portuguese tenesso
- tenessochemical element with atomic number 117
Russian теннессин
- теннессин (tennessin)chemical element with atomic number 117
Spanish teneso
- tenesochemical element with atomic number 117
Swedish tenness
- tennesschemical element with atomic number 117
Tamil தென்னிசீன்
- தென்னிசீன் (teṉṉicīṉ)chemical element with atomic number 117
Thai เทนเนสซีน
- เทนเนสซีนchemical element with atomic number 117
Ukrainian теннессин
- теннессин (tennessyn)chemical element with atomic number 117
Urdu ٹینیسین
- ٹینیسین (ṭenesen)chemical element with atomic number 117
Vietnamese tennessi
- tennessichemical element with atomic number 117
Cite this entry
tennessine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tennessine
“tennessine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tennessine. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tennessine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tennessine.
Source: tennessine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.