A light, silvery metal that does not rust easily and is widely used in cans, foil, airplanes, and building materials. It is the most common metal in the Earth’s crust.
From *alumina*, the oxide of aluminum, based on *alum*, a mineral salt known since ancient times, ultimately from Latin *alumen* (“alum”). The chemist Sir Humphry Davy experimented with the names *alumium*, *aluminum*, and *aluminium* in the early 1800s before they settled differently in American and British English.
Aluminum’s name went through several costume changes—*alumium*, *aluminum*, and *aluminium*—before English dialects froze different versions. It’s also so chemically eager that in nature it almost never appears as pure metal, only locked inside rocks. The shiny foil in your kitchen is actually the result of intense industrial persuasion.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.