Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Beryllium
/bəˈrɪliəm/noun
A light, stiff, highly toxic metal, element 4, used in aerospace alloys and X-ray windows.
The Greek roots
βήρυλλος
bḗryllos
beryl, sea-green gem
Literally: “beryl-metal”
Follow a root:βήρυλλος3 words
The story of the word
Vauquelin identified the new earth in beryl and emerald in 1798. Chemists first called the metal glucinium, from γλυκύς, sweet, because its salts taste sweet, and beryllium was only settled as the official name in the 1940s. Greek βήρυλλος is itself a loanword, probably from an Indian source behind Sanskrit vaidurya, and through Latin it also produced German Brille, spectacles, because the first lenses were cut from beryl.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
berylchrysoberylaquamarine
In a sentence
Beryllium windows let the X-rays through while holding the vacuum.