iridium

Where does the word "iridium" come from? It comes from Greek iris, and was adopted directly into English (1803).

Iridium’s story begins in Greek: iris meant “a rainbow.” The rainbow, since the element's salts display a wide range of vivid colors. It reached English by 1803 as iridium. Coined by its discoverer for the element's colorfully varied compounds. Today, iridium means a hard, dense, corrosion-resistant metallic element, among the rarest on earth.

1. Stage 1 · Greek · ancient iris "a rainbow", the rainbow, since the element's salts display a wide range of vivid colors.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1803 iridium "a hard, dense, corrosion-resistant metal", coined by its discoverer for the element's colorfully varied compounds.