plumbum

[pluhm-buhm]

noun

Chemistry.

1. lead.

plumbum

/ ˈplʌmbəm /

noun

1. an obsolete name for lead 2

Word History and Origins

Origin of plumbum¹

Borrowed into English from Latin around 1910–15

Word History and Origins

Origin of plumbum¹

from Latin

Example Sentences

The warnings about lead poisoning, however, are also as old as Roman civilization — as is the word for plumbing, which comes from the Latin word for lead, “plumbum.”

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The Romans used lead in jewelry, cooking pots, utensils, wine, cosmetics, water pipes—“plumbing” comes from plumbum, Latin for lead—even as they recognized that lead exposure could cause paralysis, delirium, sterility, and palsy.

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Potentia sexualis minuitur vel destruitur abusu venenorum vel absorbendo eadem, uti opium, morphina, chloral, potassii bromidum et iodidum, cannabis Indica, carbonei sulphidum, arsenium, antimonium, plumbum et iodum.

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Agricola himself coined the term plumbum cinereum for bismuth, no doubt following the Roman term for tin—plumbum candidum.

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Plumbum candidum is whiter and plumbum nigrum is darker, as you see.

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