calcium

Chemical element
Ca
Previous: potassium (K)
Next: scandium (Sc)

Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1808, from Latin calx (“lime, limestone”) because it occurs in limestone.^[1]

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkælsi.əm/
• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /ˈkæl.ʃəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

calcium (countable and uncountable, plural calciums)

2. The chemical element (Symbol Ca), with an atomic number 20. It is a soft, silvery-white alkaline earth metal which occurs naturally as carbonate in limestone and as silicate in many rocks.
   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:

     Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: […] . The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom.

3. (countable) An atom of this element.

• chalk
• lime
• limestone

• Calcium on the British Royal Society of Chemistry's online periodic table

• Calcium in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• kalcium

calcium

1. calcium

Chemical element
Ca
Previous: kalium (K)
Next: scandium (Sc)

Ultimately from English calcium. Coined by Humphry Davy.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑl.siˌʏm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cal‧ci‧um

calcium n (uncountable)

1. calcium [from early 19th c.]

• calciumoxide
• calciumzout

• kalk

• IPA^(key): /kal.sjɔm/

• Audio:

  (file)

calcium m (uncountable)

1. calcium

• calcaire
• calcifier
• calcique

• Lingala: kalisu

• “calcium”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

calcium (uncountable)

1. calcium

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.ki.um/, [ˈkäɫ̪kiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.t͡ʃi.um/, [ˈkäl̠ʲt͡ʃium]

Form of calx.

calcium

1. genitive plural of calx

Chemical element
Ca
Previous: kalium (K)
Next: scandium (Sc)

Derived from calx, calcis (“chalk”) +‎ -ium (chemical element suffix).

calcium n (genitive calciī); second declension

1. (New Latin) calcium

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	calcium	calcia
Genitive	calciī	calciōrum
Dative	calciō	calciīs
Accusative	calcium	calcia
Ablative	calciō	calciīs
Vocative	calcium	calcia

• → Catalan: calci
• → French: calcium
• → Galician: calcio
• → Italian: calcio
• → Portuguese: cálcio
• → Romanian: calciu
• → Spanish: calcio