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Iridium

2 stages from Greek to English.

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