Chinese
In Chinese, characters for the elements are the last officially created and recognized characters in the Chinese writing system. Unlike characters for unofficial varieties of Chinese (e.g., written Cantonese) or other now-defunct ad hoc characters (e.g., those by the Empress Wu), the names for the elements are official, consistent, and taught (with Mandarin pronunciation) to every Chinese and Taiwanese student who has attended public schools (usually by the first year of middle school). New names and symbols are decided upon by the China National Committee for Terminology in Science and Technology. [1]
Native characters
Some metallic elements were already familiar to the Chinese, as their ores were already excavated and used extensively in China for construction, alchemy, and medicine. These include the long-established group of "Five Metals" (五金) — gold (金), silver (銀/银), copper (銅/铜), iron (鐵/铁), and tin (錫/锡) — as well as lead (鉛/铅) and mercury (汞).
Some non-metals were already named in Chinese as well, because their minerals were in widespread use. [2] For example,
Characters based on European pronunciations
However, the Chinese did not know about most of the elements until they were isolated during the Industrial Age. These new elements therefore required new characters, which were invented using the phono-semantic principle. Each character consists of two parts, one to signify the meaning and the other to hint at the sound:
The semantic (meaning) part is also the radical of the character. It refers to the element's usual state at room temperature and standard pressure. Only four radicals are used for elements: 釒/钅 (jīn "gold; metal") for solid metals, 石 (shí "stone, rock") for solid non-metals, 水/氵 (shuǐ "water") for liquids, and 气 (qì "air, steam") for gases.
The phonetic (sound) part represents the character's pronunciation and is a partial transliteration of the element's name. For each element character, this is a unique phonetic component. Since 118 elements have been discovered, over 100 phonetic components are used in naming the elements. Because many characters in modern Chinese are homophones, including for tone, two different phonetic components can be pronounced the same. Current practice dictates that new names should avoid being homophonous with previous element names or with organic functional groups. However, this rule was not rigorously followed in the past, and confusingly, the names of tin (锡) and selenium (硒) both have the pronunciation xī with the same tone. The alternative pronunciation xí for tin is recommended by the National Committee for Approval of Terms in Science and Technology (全国科学技术名词审定委员会).
锡 (tin) and 硒 (selenium) are not homophones in Nanjing Mandarin, which was the prestige dialect of Chinese when most elements were named, which was until the late 19th century. The phonetic component of 锡, 易 (yì), was accurate when the character was invented around 3000 years ago, but not now because of sound change. In Middle Chinese 锡 was an entering tone character, a closed syllable ending in -p/-t/-k (or -ʔ in some modern dialects). But 硒 was constructed in the late 19th century using the (still accurate) phonetic 西 (xī), which in Middle Chinese was a level tone character, an open syllable with a vowel ending. In Beijing Mandarin, the variety on which Standard Modern Chinese is based, stop consonant endings of syllables were dropped, and the entering tone was merged into the other tones in a complex and irregular manner by the 16th–17th centuries, and 锡 and 西 both became Tone 1 (high tone) characters. In dialects that preserve the entering tone, like Nanjing Mandarin and Shanghainese and Cantonese, 锡 retains a -k or -ʔ ending and 锡 and 西 (硒) are pronounced differently.
This sometimes causes difficulty in verbal communication, as Sn and Se can both be divalent and tetravalent. Thus, SnO2 二氧化锡 and SeO2 二氧化硒 would be pronounced identically, as èryǎnghuàxī, if not for the variant xí for 锡. To avoid further confusion, P.R.C. authorities avoided using the name 矽 xī (or any tonal variants) for silicon. (In Taiwan 矽 is pronounced xì.)
| Semantic | Phonetic | Element | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 釒/钅 + | 里lǐ | = 鋰/锂 (lǐ) | lithium |
| 釒/钅 + | 甲jiǎ | = 鉀/钾 (jiǎ) | kalium, Latin name for potassium |
| 釒/钅 + | 內/内nèi or nà† | = 鈉/钠 (nà) | natrium, Latin name for sodium |
| 釒/钅 + | 弟dì or tì† | = 銻/锑 (Taiwantì / Mainlandtī*) | stibium, Latin name for antimony |
| 釒/钅 + | 臬niè | = 鎳/镍 (niè) | nickel |
| 釒/钅 + | 鬲gé | = 鎘/镉 (gé) | cadmium |
| 釒/钅 + | 烏/乌wū | = 鎢/钨 (wū) | wolframium, Latin name for tungsten |
| 釒/钅 + | 必bì | = 鉍/铋 (bì) | bismuth |
| 釒/钅 + | 由yóu | = 鈾/铀 (Taiwanyòu* / Mainlandyóu) | uranium |
| 釒/钅 + | 呂/吕lǚ | = 鋁/铝 (lǚ) | aluminium |
| 石 + | 典diǎn | = 碘 (diǎn) | iodine |
| 气 + | 亥hài | = 氦 (hài) | helium |
| 气 + | 弗fú | = 氟 (fú) | fluorine |
| 气 + | 乃nǎi | = 氖 (nǎi) | neon |
| 石 + | 夕xī | = 矽 (Taiwanxì* / Mainlandxī) | silicon. Mainly used in R.O.C. (Taiwan), Hong Kong, and Macau |
| 圭guī | = 硅 (guī) | silicon. Derived from Japanese transliteration '珪' (kei, けい) of archaic Dutch keiaarde. Mostly used in P.R.C. | |
- † 內/内 is primarily pronounced as nèi, but less commonly as nà, the source of 納/纳. Likewise, the primary pronunciation of 弟 is dì, but the alternate reading of tì gave rise to 銻/锑.
- * The derived pronunciation differs (in tone or in sound) from the pronunciation of the element.
The "water" radical (水) is not used much here, as only two elements (bromine and mercury) are truly liquid at standard room temperature and pressure. Their characters are not based on the European pronunciation of the elements' names. Bromine (溴), the only liquid nonmetal at room temperature, is explained in the following section. Mercury (汞), now grouped with the heavy metals, was long classified as a kind of fluid in ancient China.
Meaning-based characters
A few characters, though, are not created using the above "phono-semantic" design, but are "semantic-semantic", that is, both of its parts indicate meanings. One part refers to the element's usual state (like the semanto-phonetic characters), while the other part indicates some additional property or function of the element. In addition, the second part also indicates the pronunciation of the element. Such elements are:
| Semantic | Semantic | Element | English | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 釒/钅 + | 白bái (white) | = 鉑/铂bó [note 1] | platinum | The character is repurposed. [note 2] |
| 氵 + | 臭chòu (stinky) | = 溴xiù [note 1] | bromine | odorous (Greek βρῶμοςbrómos also means "stench") |
| 气 + | 羊yáng, short for養/养yǎng (to nourish/foster) | = 氧yǎng [note 3] | oxygen | A continuous supply of oxygenated air nourishes almost all animals |
| 气 + | 巠/𢀖jīng, short for輕/轻qīng (light-weight) | = 氫/氢qīng [note 3] | hydrogen | the lightest of all elements |
| 气 + | 彔/录lù, short for綠/绿lǜ (green) | = 氯/氯lǜ [note 3] | chlorine | greenish yellow in color |
| 气 + | 炎yán, short for淡dàn (diluted) | = 氮dàn [note 3] | nitrogen | dilutes breathable air |
| 石 + | 粦lín, short for燐lín (glow) | = 磷lín | phosphorus | emits a faint glow in the dark |
- 1 2 The pronunciation of these characters come from the second semantic characters' nearly obsolete pronunciations. Nowadays 白 (white) is normally pronounced bái in the standard Mandarin dialect, although traditionally bó was preferred. Similarly, 臭 (stinky) is almost always pronounced chòu, as opposed to xiù, now an archaic reading.
- ↑ The original meaning of 鉑/铂 is "thin sheet of gold" (now obsolete). The character was not associated with platinum until modern time, since platinum was known in the Old World only after the Age of Discovery.
- 1 2 3 4 The apparent mismatch in pronunciation with the phonetic component is because the pronunciation is inherited from another character that provides the meaning. For example, the ultimate source of the pronunciation of 氧yǎng (oxygen) is not 羊yáng (sheep), but 養/养yǎng (to nourish/foster).
Usage in the nomenclature for simple inorganic compounds
Simple covalent binary inorganic compounds EmXn are named as
- n X 化 (huà) m E (with n and m written as Chinese numerals),
where X is more electronegative than E, using the IUPAC formal electronegativity order. 化 as a full noun or verb means 'change; transform(ation)'. As a noun suffix, it is equivalent to the English suffixes -ized/-ated/-ified. It is the root of the word 化学 (huàxué) 'chemistry'.
For example, P4S10 is called 十硫化四磷 (shíliúhuàsìlín) (literally: 'ten sulfur of four phosphorus', 'decasulfide of tetraphosphorus'). As in English nomenclature, if m = 1, the numerical prefix of E is usually dropped in covalent compounds. For example, CO is called 一氧化碳 (yīyǎnghuàtàn) (literally: 'one oxygen of carbon', 'monoxide of carbon').
However, for compounds named as salts, numerical prefixes are dropped altogether, as in English. Thus, calcium chloride, CaCl2, is named 氯化钙 (literally: 'chloride of calcium'). The Chinese name for FeCl3, 氯化铁, literally means 'chlorinated iron' and is akin to the archaic English names 'muriated iron' or 'muriate of iron'. In this example, 氯 is 'chlorine' and 铁 is 'iron'.
There is a Chinese analog of the -ic/-ous nomenclature for higher/lower oxidation states: -ous is translated as 亚 (yà, 'minor; secondary'): for example, FeCl2 is 氯化亚铁 and FeCl3 is 氯化铁. In a four-way contrast, hypo- is translated as 次 (cì, 'inferior; following') and per- is translated as 高 (gāo, 'high, upper'). For example, the acid HClO is 次氯酸 "inferior chlorine acid", HClO2 is 亚氯酸, HClO3 is 氯酸, and HClO4 is 高氯酸. In this example, the character 酸 (suān, 'sour') means (organic or inorganic) acid. The more modern Stock nomenclature in which oxidation state is explicitly specified can also be used: thus, tin(IV) oxide (SnO2) is simply 氧化锡(IV).
Recently discovered elements
In 2015, IUPAC recognised the discovery of four new elements. In November 2016, IUPAC published their formal names and symbols: nihonium (113Nh), moscovium (115Mc), tennessine (117Ts), and oganesson (118Og).
Subsequently, in January 2017, the China National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Technologies published four naming characters for these elements. [1] The National Academy for Educational Research under the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China on Taiwan published an almost identical list (the only differences being the use of the traditional Chinese metal radical '釒' in place of the simplified Chinese form '钅' for nihonium and moscovium) in April 2017. [3]
For traditional Chinese, nihonium and moscovium were then existing characters; while in simplified Chinese, only moscovium already existed in the Unicode Standard. The missing characters were added to Unicode version 11.0 as urgently-needed characters in June 2018. [4]
The Chinese characters for these symbols are:
- Nihonium: Traditional: U+9268鉨CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9268 Simplified: U+9FED鿭CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9FED
(nǐ) - Moscovium: Traditional: U+93CC鏌CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-93CC Simplified: U+9546镆CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9546 (mò)
- Tennessine: Both Traditional and Simplified: U+9FEC鿬CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9FEC
(tián) - Oganesson: Both Traditional and Simplified: U+9FEB鿫CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9FEB
(ào)
In the periodic table
Pronunciations for some elements differ between mainland China and Taiwan, as described in the article. Simplified characters and mainland Chinese pronunciations are shown above. [5] Some of the characters for the superheavy elements may not be visible depending on fonts.
Notes
| English | Z | Mainland China | Taiwan | Hong Kong/Macau |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| silicon | 14 | 硅guī | 矽xì | 硅gwai1, 矽zik6 |
| technetium | 43 | 锝dé | 鎝tǎ | 鎝daap1, 鍀dak1 |
| lutetium | 71 | 镥lǔ | 鎦liú | 鑥lou5, 鎦lau4 |
| astatine | 85 | 砹ài | 砈è | 砹ngaai6, 砈ngo5 |
| francium | 87 | 钫fāng | 鍅fǎ | 鈁fong1, 鍅faat3 |
| neptunium | 93 | 镎ná | 錼nài | 錼noi6, 鎿naa4 |
| plutonium | 94 | 钚bù | 鈽bù | 鈈bat1 |
| americium | 95 | 镅méi | 鋂méi | 鎇mei4, 鋂mui4 |
| berkelium | 97 | 锫péi | 鉳běi | 錇pui4, 鉳bak1 |
| californium | 98 | 锎kāi | 鉲kǎ | 鐦hoi1, 鉲kaa1 |
| einsteinium | 99 | 锿āi | 鑀ài | 鎄oi1, 鑀oi3 |
A minority of the "new characters" are not completely new inventions, as they coincide with archaic characters, whose original meanings have long been lost to most people. For example, 鈹 (beryllium), 鉻 (chromium), 鑭 (lanthanum), and 鏷 (protactinium), are obscure characters meaning "needle", "hook", "harrow", and "raw iron", respectively.
Some elements' names were already present as characters used in the names of members of the House of Zhu. In the early Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor established a rule that his descendants' given names must follow the order of the Five Phases per generation, and should have a character including the radical for one of the Five Phases. Some later descendants had to adopt rarely used characters, and even created new characters to fit this rule, which were later readopted for chemical elements. For example,
- radium (鐳/镭) from Zhu Shenlei (朱慎鐳, 1572–1598), Prince Yonghe Gongyi
- polonium (釙/钋) from Zhu Zhengpo (朱徵釙, 1440–1469), Prince Hanhui
- cerium (鈰/铈) from Zhu Enshi (朱恩鈰, 1460–1497), Prince Yuanling Xuanmu.
Most element names are the same in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, merely being variants of each other, since most of the names were translated by a single body of standardization before the PRC-ROC split. However, elements discovered close to, during, or after the split sometimes have different names in Taiwan and in mainland China. In Hong Kong, both Taiwanese and mainland Chinese names are used. [6] A few pronunciations also differ even when the characters are analogous: cobalt gǔ (PRC) / gū (ROC); palladium bǎ (PRC) / bā (ROC); tin xī (PRC) / xí (ROC); antimony tī (PRC) / tì (ROC); polonium pō (PRC) / pò (ROC); uranium yóu (PRC) / yòu (ROC); bohrium bō (PRC) / pō (ROC). [5]
The isotopes of hydrogen – protium (1H), deuterium (D) and tritium (T) – are written 氕 piē, 氘 dāo and 氚 chuān, respectively, in both simplified and traditional writing. 鑀 is used in Taiwan for both einsteinium (mainland China: 锿) and ionium, a previous name for the isotope thorium-230.[ citation needed ]
History
In 1871, John Fryer and Shou Xu proposed the modern convention of exclusively using single characters for element names. [7]
