calcium
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Pronunciation
- /ˈkælsi.əm/[1]
Etymology
It is from New Latin calcium, coined in 1808 by the English chemist Humphry Davy, who first isolated the metal,[2][3][4] from Latin calx (“lime, limestone”) (stem calc-) and the metal suffix -ium.[5][6][7] The name refers to the element's presence in limestone.[3] Ayto takes the Latin word probably from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble; limestone”).[4] The same Latin noun gave chalk, calculate and calculus.[4][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
The chemical element, an alkaline earth metal: 1808, in Davy's paper in the Philosophical Transactions.[5][3]
Semantic evolution
The element was named as soon as it was isolated, and its sense has not changed.[5][3] Barnhart notes that its compounds, in mortar, had been valued since ancient times.[3]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- A soft, silvery-white, reactive metallic element of the alkaline earth group, atomic number 20, symbol Ca, found in limestone and gypsum and a basic component of most animals and plants.
Word family
- calcic
- calcium arsenate
- calcium carbide
- calcium carbonate
Related words
- calcite
- calx
- calculus
- chalk
- calculate
- calcareous
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
- ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press