hydrargyrum

American

[hahy-drahr-jer-uhm] / haɪˈdrɑr dʒər əm /

noun

mercury.

hydrargyrum British

/ haɪˈdrɑːdʒɪrəm, ˌhaɪdrɑːˈdʒɪərɪk /

noun

an obsolete name for mercury

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

hydrargyric adjective

Etymology

Origin of hydrargyrum

1555–65; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin hydrargyr ( us ) (< Greek hydrárgyros mercury, equivalent to hydr- hydr- ¹ + árgyros silver) + -um, on model of aurum, etc.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Never mind the adjective, I was mercury: quicksilver, Hg, hydrargyrum, ore of cinnabar, resistant to herding, incapable of assuming a fixed form.

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023