XPost: sci.lang, alt.usage.english
P.S. Congratulations and thanks to Wei-Hwa Huang
([email protected])
who responded to my:
Concupiscence contains 4 'c's. Can you give a succinct word with 3 'c's?
with the sharp and delightful,
"No, but I found an unusual word with 3 'u's".
"coccyx" has to be the favorite positive response.
---
The 'c's in oscilloscope are pronounced differently. Can you give
another
English word with 'sc's which are pronounced differently?
__________________________
Unununium == Former name for the chemical element with atomic
number 111
(now called roentgenium).
The word unununium is a systematic element name derived from its atomic
number, 111. It was formed using the following pattern:
"un" (from Latin ūnus, meaning "one") is used for each digit "1" in the
atomic number.
"ium" is a standard suffix for element names.
So, unununium literally means "one-one-one-ium," directly reflecting its position as element 111 in the periodic table.
This naming convention was used as a temporary placeholder until a
permanent name (roentgenium) was officially assigned.
The etymology is thus:
un (one) + un (one) + un (one) + ium (element suffix) = unununium.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)