sodium Hear it!

sodium definition

so·dium (sō′dē əm)

noun

  1. a soft, silver-white, metallic chemical element, one of the alkali metals, having a waxlike consistency: it is found in nature only in combined form and is extremely active chemically: symbol, Na; at. no., 11
  2. sodium chloride

Etymology: ModL: so named (1807) by Sir Humphry Davy < soda (because isolated from caustic soda) + -ium

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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