potassium

Etymology

Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1807, from potassa + -ium, from Dutch potasch (“potash”).

noun

  1. 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.
  2. (countable) A single atom of this element.

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