Standard Lemma guide

deuterium

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /djuːˈtɪəɹɪəm/
  • UK: /dʒuːˈtɪəɹɪəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /djuːˈtɪɹi.əm/
  • rhymes with -ɪəɹiəm
  • CMU ARPABET: D UW0 T IY1 R IY0 AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An isotope of hydrogen with one proton and one neutron in each atom - 21H.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

Examples

  • Heavy water is "heavy" because it contains deuterium.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: mul:H-2, mul:2H, hydrogen-2, hydrogen 2, heavy hydrogen

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hydrogen, mul:H

2

noun

Meaning 2

An atom of this isotope.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • There were about 80 deuteriums for every million protiums, and virtually no tritium.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an isotope of hydrogen which has one neutron (as opposed to zero neutrons in hydrogen)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: heavy hydrogen

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: isotope, hydrogen atom

History

Etymology

From deutero- + -ium. Coined by American physical chemist Harold Urey, from Ancient Greek δεύτερος (deúteros, “second”).

Across languages

Translations

35 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: deuterium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Bengali: ডিউটেরিয়াম (ḍiuṭeriẏam) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Bulgarian: деуте́рий (deutérij) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Catalan: deuteri — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Chinese Cantonese: 氘 (dou1) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Chinese Mandarin: 氘 (dāo) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Czech: těžký vodík — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Czech: deuterium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Dutch: deuterium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Esperanto: deŭterio — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Finnish: raskas vety — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Finnish: deuterium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • French: deutérium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • German: Deuterium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Greek: δευτέριο (deftério) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Hindi: भारी उदजन (bhārī udjan) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Hungarian: deutérium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Icelandic: tvívetni — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Icelandic: þungt vetni — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Icelandic: þungavetni — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Italian: deuterio — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Japanese: 重水素 (jūsuiso) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Korean: 중수소 (jungsuso) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Korean: 듀테륨 (dyuteryum) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Korean: 이중수소 (ijungsuso) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Malay: deuterium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Polish: deuter — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Portuguese: deutério — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Romanian: deuteriu — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Russian: дейте́рий (dɛjtɛ́rij) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Russian: дейте́рий (dejtérij) — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Spanish: deuterio — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Swedish: deuterium — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Turkish: döteryum — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen
  • Welsh: dewteriwm — isotope of hydrogen — see also heavy hydrogen