a malleable ductile silvery-white element of the lanthanide series of metals. It occurs principally in monazite and bastnaesite and is used with other rare earths in carbon-arc lights and as a pigment in glass. Symbol: Pr; atomic no: 59; atomic wt: 140.90765; valency: 3; relative density: 6.773; melting pt: 931°C; boiling pt: 3520°C
Word origin
C20: New Latin, from Greek prasios of a leek-green colour + didymium
praseodymium in American English
(ˌpreɪzioʊˈdɪmiəm; ˌpreɪsioʊˈdɪmiəm)
noun
a silvery, malleable chemical element, one of the rare-earth elements, whose salts are generally green in color and are used to color glasses and enamels: symbol, Pr; at. no., 59
Word origin
ModL < praseodymia, a rare earth (< Gr prasios: see prase) + ModL (di)dymium (see didymium): so named (1885) by C. A. von Welsbach (1858-1929), Austrian chemist, from its spectroscopicline and from being split from didymium