tritium

T1R1I1T1I1U1M3
UK/ˈtɹɪt.i.əm/US/ˈtrɪʃ.i.əm/US/ˈtrɪʃ.əm/

noun

A radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen (symbol T, ³H or 31H) having one proton and two neutrons.

Similar
mul:H-3mul:³Hhydrogen-3hydrogen 3
OriginNew Latin tritium ← Ancient Greek τρίτος →
Less commonScrabble 9
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nountritium (countable and uncountable, plural tritiums)

plural tritiums

  1. countableuncountablenatural sciencesA radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen (symbol T, ³H or 31H) having one proton and two neutrons.

    Synonyms: mul:H-3, mul:³H, hydrogen-3, hydrogen 3

  2. countableuncountableAn atom of this isotope.

    Electrochemical polymerization of the 1,2-tritiated monomer produced a polymer in which all of the tritiums were eliminated except for those located at the ends of the chains

    1998, Donald Lee Wise, Electrical and optical polymer systems, →ISBN, page 765

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen (symbol T, ³H or 31H) having one proton and two neutrons.

Similar
mul:H-3mul:³Hhydrogen-3hydrogen 3
Also see
hydrogen-3radiohydrogen

Origin

  1. New Latin-ium
  2. Ancient Greekτρίτος“third”
  3. New Latintritium
  4. Englishtritium

Borrowed from New Latin tritium, from Ancient Greek τρίτος (trítos, “third”) + New Latin -ium. By surface analysis, trit- + -ium.

More words from New Latin, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans tritium
  • tritiumradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Bulgarian три́тий
  • три́тий (trítij)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
Catalan triti
  • tritiradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Chinese Cantonese 氚, 超重氫 /超重氢
  • 氚 (cyun¹)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
  • 超重氫 /超重氢 (ciu¹ zung⁶ hing¹)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
Chinese Mandarin 氚, 超重氫 /超重氢
  • 氚 (chuān)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
  • 超重氫 /超重氢 (chāozhòngqīng)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
Dutch tritium
  • tritiumradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Esperanto tricio, tritio
  • tricioradioactive isotope of hydrogen
  • tritioradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Finnish tritium
  • tritiumradioactive isotope of hydrogen
German Tritium
  • Tritiumradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Hungarian trícium
  • tríciumradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Icelandic þrívetni, ofurþungt vetni
  • þrívetniradioactive isotope of hydrogen
  • ofurþungt vetniradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Italian trizio
  • trizioradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Japanese 三重水素
  • 三重水素 (sanjūsuiso)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
Korean 삼중수소, 초중수소
  • 삼중수소 (samjungsuso)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
  • 초중수소 (chojungsuso)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
  • 트리튬 (teurityum)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
Polish tryt
  • trytradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Portuguese trítio
  • trítioradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Russian три́тий
  • три́тий (trítij)radioactive isotope of hydrogen
Spanish tritio
  • tritioradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Swedish tritium
  • tritiumradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Turkish trityum
  • trityumradioactive isotope of hydrogen
Cite this entry
APA

tritium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tritium

MLA

“tritium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tritium. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tritium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tritium.

Source: tritium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.