noun
a hard, ductile, gray or black, metallic chemical element found combined in zircon, etc., and used in alloys, ceramics, the cladding for nuclear fuel in reactors, etc.: symbol, Zr; at. no., 40
see the periodic table of elements in the Reference Supplement
Origin:
ModL < zirconia + -ium: name proposed (1808) by Sir Humphry Davy for element later isolated (1824) by Baron Jöns Jakob Berzelius