Germanium

//d͡ʒɚˈmeɪni.əm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A nonmetallic chemical element (symbol Ge) with an atomic number of 32: a lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white metalloid in the carbon group. countable, uncountable

    "This equipment, which includes transformers, germanium rectifiers and smoothing apparatus, has been designed to allow the existing electric multiple-unit traction motors to operate on rectified alternating current."

  2. 2
    a brittle grey crystalline element that is a semiconducting metalloid (resembling silicon) used in transistors; occurs in germanite and argyrodite wordnet
  3. 3
    An atom of this element. countable

Synonyms

All synonyms
atomic number 32gegoldironleadmetal

Example

More examples

"Transistors are made of solid materials such as silicon or germanium whose electrical properties lie somewhere between conductors and insulators: they are semiconductors."

Etymology

From Latin Germānia (“Germany”) + -ium.

Related phrases

germanium antimony telluridegermanium dioxidegermanium diselenidegermanium hydridegermanium tetrachloridegermanium tetrahydridesilicon germaniumsilicon-germaniumatomic number

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