Magnesium

How to spell magnesium

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce magnesium

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does magnesium mean?

1. nounA light, silvery-white metallic chemical element (symbol Mg) used in alloys and dietary supplements.

Magnesium in a sentence

• The doctor suggested a daily magnesium supplement to ease her muscle cramps.

• Lightweight bicycle frames are often built from magnesium alloys.

Where does magnesium come from?

Language of origin: Greek

Magnesium takes its name from Magnesia, an ancient region of Thessaly in Greece that gave several minerals their labels. The local stones known as magnesia lithos were rich in magnesium compounds, and the same place name also lies behind the words magnet and manganese, which is why all three look related. The modern Latin term magnesium was coined in the early nineteenth century, with the standard -ium ending that chemists attached to newly isolated metals such as sodium and potassium. The English chemist Humphry Davy is usually credited with naming and first isolating the metal around 1808. The spelling trap sits in the unstressed middle and end: the -nes- and the quiet -ium can blur in speech, so it helps to remember the Greek place name Magnesia hiding inside it.

How the word is built

• magnes- (from Magnesia, a district in Greece)
• -ium (suffix for a metallic chemical element)