Erbium

//ˈɝ.bi.əm// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A chemical element (symbol Er) with atomic number 68: a silvery-white metal, in nature always found in combination with other elements. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    a trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group; occurs with yttrium wordnet
  3. 3
    A single atom of this element. countable

Synonyms

All synonyms
atomic number 68ergoldironleadmetal

Example

More examples

"Erbium has been found in certain titanium minerals."

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin erbium; itself from Swedish Ytterby (the name of the town where the element was first discovered) + -ium, coined by Swedish chemist and mineralogist Carl Gustaf Mosander in 1843. Doublet of terbium, ytterbium, and yttrium.

Related phrases

erbium oxideerbium trichlorideatomic number

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