Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Metal
/ˈmɛtəl/noun
A hard, lustrous element that conducts heat and electricity and can be hammered into shape.
The Greek roots
μέταλλον
métallon
mine, quarry
Literally: “a mine”
Follow a root:μέταλλον4 words
The story of the word
In Greek the word meant the hole in the ground rather than what came out of it. The silver μέταλλα at Laurion, worked by thousands of slaves, paid for the Athenian fleet that fought at Salamis. Latin metallum shifted the sense from the pit to the substance, and that is the meaning English inherited. Metallurgy still carries both halves: the mine plus ἔργον, work.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
metallurgymetalloidbimetallic
In a sentence
Something metal was rattling under the car every time he braked.