Cadmium
/ˈkæd.mi.əm/noun
A soft, bluish-white toxic metallic element used in batteries, pigments, and coatings.
Did you know?Cadmium was named by German chemist Friedrich Stromeyer in 1817 after the Latinized Cadmia, a name linked to Cadmus and the ancient ore region of Thebes, where myth and mineral history blur together.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
Κάδμος (Kadmos)
“Cadmus, the mythic founder of Thebes and bringer of the Phoenician alphabet to Greece”
Latin
Latin
cadmia
“Calamine; a zinc-containing ore, and the mineral source of the name”
Early Modern Latin
Neo-Latin
cadmia
“A mineral name used in scholarly chemistry and mineralogy”
1817
German
Cadmium
“Name given by Friedrich Stromeyer to the newly identified metal”
Modern English
English
cadmium
“The chemical element cadmium”