Rhenium
/ˈriːniəm/noun
A rare, very dense, silver-gray metallic chemical element used in high-temperature alloys and catalysts.
Did you know?Rhenium was named by Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke, and Otto Berg in 1925 from Neo-Latin Rhenus, the Latin name for the Rhine, because the element was first identified in a region associated with that river.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Roman
Latin
Rhenus
“The Rhine River”
19th Century
Latin/Scientific
rhenium
“A proposed name for the newly discovered element, formed from the Rhine”
1925
German
Rhenium
“The element name formally introduced by Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke, and Otto Berg”
Modern English
English
rhenium
“The chemical element with atomic number 75”
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