noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A soft, waxy, silvery reactive metal that is never found unbound in nature; an element with atomic number 19 and atomic weight of 39.0983. uncountable, usually

   "We all need potassium, and green vegetables are a good source."

2. 2
   a light soft silver-white metallic element of the alkali metal group; oxidizes rapidly in air and reacts violently with water; is abundant in nature in combined forms occurring in sea water and in carnallite and kainite and sylvite wordnet
3. 3
   A single atom of this element. countable, usually

   "This reaction substitutes a potassium for a sodium."

Synonyms

All synonyms

atomic number 19goldironkkaliumlead

Example

More examples

"Berries are high in minerals such as potassium."

Etymology

Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1807, from potassa (a Latinized form of potash) + -ium.

Related phrases

acesulfame potassiumbismuthide of potassiumbromide of potassiumcarbonate of potassiumchromate of potassiumhydrogen potassium carbonateplumbate of potassiumpotassium acesulfamepotassium acetatepotassium acid carbonatepotassium adipatepotassium alginate

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