What does "handwavium" mean?

Any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties.

What is a synonym for "handwavium"?

Common synonyms include: unobtainium, unobtanium.

Pronounced //handˈweɪ.vi.əm//.

//handˈweɪ.vi.əm// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
Any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties. informal, uncountable
"My handwavium was an invented mineral, but - reading up - what about platinum? Could I substitute platinum for handwavium?"

"My handwavium was an invented mineral, but - reading up - what about platinum? Could I substitute platinum for handwavium?"

From hand waving + -ium (“the chemical element suffix”).

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