A soft, toxic metallic element with the symbol Cd, used in batteries, pigments, and protective coatings. It has a silvery appearance but tarnishes quickly in air.
From New Latin cadmium, named after Latin cadmia meaning 'calamine' (zinc carbonate), from Greek καδμεία (kadmeia). The Greek word referred to 'Cadmean earth,' named after Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes. Cadmium was discovered in 1817 as an impurity in zinc compounds and named for its association with zinc ores.
Cadmium was accidentally discovered when a German chemist noticed that some zinc samples produced a different colored flame - what he thought was an impurity turned out to be an entirely new element! The name connects to ancient Greek mythology through Cadmus, but the real story is that cadmium almost always occurs with zinc in nature, like a metallic shadow that took 2,000 years to step into the light.
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