Dictionary Home » Webster's New World College Dictionary » tellurium

tellurium

tellurium definition

tel·lu·rium (te lo̵or′ē əm, tə-)

noun

a rare, tin-white, brittle, nonmetallic chemical element, belonging to the same family of elements as sulfur and selenium and occurring naturally in mineral tellurite and tellurides: it is used as a glass tint, as an alloying material, and in thermoelectric converters: symbol, Te; at. no., 52

Etymology: ModL: coined (1798) by M. H. Klaproth (1743-1817), Ger chemist, for element discovered (1783) by F. J. M. von Reichenstein, Austrian mineralogist < L tellus, earth (see tellurian) + -ium, in contrast to uranium

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