rutherfordium
noun/ˌrʌðəˈfɔːdiəm/
/ˌrʌðərˈfɔːrdiəm/
[uncountable] (symbol Rf)
- a chemical element. Rutherfordium is radioactive and does not exist in nature but is produced artificially when atoms crash into each other.Word Origin1960s: modern Latin, named after E. Rutherford (1871-1937), the New Zealand physicist.
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
rutherfordium