calcium
/ˈkælsi.əm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.82 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The chemical element (symbol Ca) with atomic number 20: a soft, silvery-white alkaline earth metal which occurs naturally as carbonate in limestone and as silicate in many rocks.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:[…]. The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom."
- "“This material has a specific hardness and is chemically very stable. It forms naturally from calcium alone, but bacteria accelerate the transformation into calcium carbonate,” explains Alejandro Montesinos, head of the Decarbonization, Climate Change, and Circular Economy Research Group at Tec de Monterrey and a member of the Institute of Advanced Materials and Sustainable Manufacturing."
Etymology
Etymology tree Pre-Greekbor.? Ancient Greek χᾰ́λῐξ (khắlĭx)bor.? substratebor.? Latin calx Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Italic *-om Latin -umder. English -ium English calcium Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1808, from Latin calx (“lime, limestone”) because it occurs in limestone. By surface analysis, calc- + -ium.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkælsi.əm/
- British English: /ˈkælsi.əm/