platinum
pronunciation
How to pronounce platinum in British English:
UK [ˈplætɪnəm]
How to pronounce platinum in American English:
US [ˈplætɪnəm]
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- Noun:
- a heavy precious metallic element; gray-white and resistant to corroding; occurs in some nickel and copper ores and is also found native in some deposits
Word Origin
- platinum (n.)
- metallic element, 1812, Modern Latin, from Spanish platina "platinum," diminutive of plata "silver," from Old French plate or Old Provençal plata "sheet of metal" (see plate (n.)). The metal looks like silver, and the Spaniards at first thought it an inferior sort of silver, hence the name platina. It was first obtained from Spanish colonies in Mexico and Colombia, brought to Europe in 1735, and identified as an element 1741. Taken into English as platina (c. 1750), it took its modern form (with element ending -ium) in 1812, at the time the names of elements were being regularized. As a shade of blond hair, attested from 1931. As a designation for a recording that has sold at least one million copies, it is attested from 1971.
Example
- 1. How much so is clear for platinum and palladium .
- 2. Platinum , iridium and the rest are expensive precisely because they are rare .
- 3. South africa is the world 's largest platinum producer and fifth-largest gold producer .
- 4. Platinum roared to the front in early july and maintained its lead ever since .
- 5. Miners arrested at the south africa platinum mine have been charged with murdering their colleagues .