different between potassium vs metalloid

English

Etymology

Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1807, from potassa +? -ium.

Pronunciation

• enPR: p?t?s???m, IPA^(key): /p??tæsi?m/

Noun

potassium (usually uncountable, plural potassiums)

2. A soft, waxy, silvery reactive metal that is never found unbound in nature; an element (symbol K) with an atomic number of 19 and atomic weight of 39.0983. The symbol is derived from the Latin kalium.
3. (countable) A single atom of this element.

Derived terms

Related terms

• K?
• potash
• potass
• potassa

Translations

References

• Potassa and Potassium in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.
• Potassium on the British Royal Society of Chemistry's online periodic table

See also

• carnallite
• langbeinite
• polyhalite
• potash
• saltpeter, saltpetre
• sylvite

Anagrams

• assumptio

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?.ta.sj?m/

Noun

potassium m (uncountable)

1. potassium

Descendants

• Lingala: potasu

Further reading

• “potassium” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Interlingua

Noun

potassium (uncountable)

1. potassium

English

Etymology

From metal +? -oid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?t?l??d/

Noun

metalloid (plural metalloids)

1. (chemistry) An element, such as silicon or germanium, intermediate in properties between that of a metal and a nonmetal; especially one that exhibits the external characteristics of a metal, but behaves chemically more as a nonmetal.
2. (chemistry, obsolete) The metallic base of a fixed alkali, or alkaline earth; applied to sodium, potassium, and some other metallic substances whose metallic character was supposed to be not well defined.
   • 1836, Sir Humphry Davy, Memoirs

     By some they [metals of the alkalies] were called metalloids; by some their simple nature was objected to

Translations

Adjective

metalloid (comparative more metalloid, superlative most metalloid)

1. (not comparable) Of or relating to the metalloids.
2. (informal) Characteristic of the metal music genre.
   • 1997, CMJ New Music Monthly (number 43, page 12)

     Graham Massey of 808 State turns a Björkian moan into a vibrating siren and powers his strangely metalloid version of "Army Of Me" with it; the Brodsky String Quartet turns "Hyperballad" into a stately 3-D chess game.

   • 2004, Gene Santoro, Highway 61 Revisited

     It expanded from bleary delay rippling with looped phrases to embrace molten metalloid raunch and blues grit, acoustic guitars and pedal steels.