What does "buckminsterfullerene" mean?

An allotrope of carbon with the formula C₆₀, consisting of a hollow molecule with 60 atoms arranged in a truncated icosahedron structure; the smallest of the fullerenes.

What is a synonym for "buckminsterfullerene"?

Common synonyms include: buckyball, footballene, footballene.

How do you pronounce "buckminsterfullerene"?

Pronounced //ˌbʌk.mɪns.təˈfʊ.lə.ɹiːn//.

Buckminsterfullerene

//ˌbʌk.mɪns.təˈfʊ.lə.ɹiːn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
An allotrope of carbon with the formula C₆₀, consisting of a hollow molecule with 60 atoms arranged in a truncated icosahedron structure; the smallest of the fullerenes.
2
a spheroidal fullerene; the first known example of a fullerene wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

buckyball footballene footballene

Etymology

From Buckminster + Fuller + -ene, named after Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome.

Related phrases

truncated icosahedron

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.