metal
/ˈmetəl/MEH-tuhl
/ˈmɛtəl/MEH-tuhl
Meaninga mine
Common meaning: a hard shiny element
- metala mine, a quarryLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 949 · scan
Journey through time
- Greekμέταλλον‘a mine, a quarry’
- Latinmetallum
- Old Frenchmetalsource
- Middle Englishmetalsource
- Englishmeaning shiftsa mine, a quarry → a hard shiny elementmetal‘a hard shiny element’ · today
metal also in: metallurgymettle
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Greek μέταλλον ‘a mine, a quarry’.
Did you know (Mettle and metal…): our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry METTLE, p. 366 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Greek metallon, a…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry μέταλλον, p. 949 · dictionary scan; Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry METTLE, p. 366 · dictionary scan
Roots
- μέταλλον Greek “a mine, a quarry”
Related words
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